The 'Aqīdah of Imām as-Sarakhsī (d. 483 AH)
1) Negation of place and directions
“The exposition regarding what we have mentioned with regards to the meaning of the ambiguous (mutashābih) in the matters of Usūl is that the beatific vision with the eyes in the hereafter is true, known and established via the text, that is His statement, the Most High: “their faces” which has the meaning of test and unveiling the bounty of those who are deeply grounded in knowledge as well as maximising their sanctity and directing them. ”...on that day will be radiant, looking towards their Lord.” In addition, He exists with the attribute of perfection. Also, in Him being visible to Himself and other than Himself is a quality of perfection, however, [an assumed] direction is impossible, for Allāh does not have any direction. Thus, it is ambiguous with regards to what concerns the vision and directionality, while the origin of the beatific vision is established via the text and known.”
Usūl as-Sarakhsī, 1/170
“As for the Hadīth, it has been mentioned in some narrations that a man said, 'upon me is to free a believing slave', or, [according to another opinion/narration] the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ acknowledged through revelation that it is upon him to free a believing slave, thus he (the prophet ﷺ) tested her with faith. All this while there is also discussion regarding the authenticity of that Hadīth, it is narrated, 'that the prophet ﷺ said: 'Where is Allāh? And she pointed to the sky' and it is not assumed regarding the Messenger ﷺ that he meant to seek from anyone the affirmation of direction and place for Allāh.”
al-Mabsūt 7/4.
2) Active attribute (Sifah al-Fi'l)
“However, this way is not to be satisfied with according to us, for they (those who leaned towards the creed of the Mu'tazilah regarding sifāt) intended by this distinction, a hint towards their doctrine in active attributes (sifāt al-Fi'l) being other than Allāh. However, the doctrine according to us is that the attributes of Allāh are not He, nor other than He, thus the distinction cannot be established between attributes of essence and action in the case of taking an oath.”
al-Mabsūt, 8/133.
3) Kalām Nafsī
“The Qur'ān is the speech of Allāh, the Most High, which is uncreated nor originated. However, the languages all originated. Thus, we acknowledge that it is not possible to say that the Qur'ān is with a specific language. And how would that be when Allāh said:
“And it has indeed been ˹foretold˺ in the Scriptures of those before.”
While it (meaning a command or story that has come in the Qur'ān) was in their own language.”
al-Mabsūt, 1/37.
4) Mutashābihāt & Tafwīdh
"And as for 'mutashābih', it refers to something whose meaning is beyond the hope of understanding for those who find it ambiguous. The ruling on it is to believe in its truth and to refrain from seeking or trying to understand its meaning. Some have called it 'mutashābih' because the expression is ambiguous and the meanings are conflicting. This is incorrect, however, because the disjointed letters (hurūf muqatta'ah) at the beginning of some sūrahs are considered 'mutashābih' by the scholars of exegesis, yet they do not contain this meaning. Rather, the knowledge of the intended meaning is similar to its wording, but it is impossible to ascertain the intended meaning, and that is in contradiction to that because of the absence of possibility in acknowledging the intended meaning regarding it. It only requires belief in its truth and submission, as Allāh says, 'And none knows its interpretation except Allah.' We stop at this point in the verse, and then His statement, 'And those firm in knowledge' begins with a conjunction to maintain the coherence of the discourse, indicating that those firm in knowledge are those who believe in the 'mutashābih' without trying to understand its meaning but instead submit to it. This is the meaning of Allāh’s statement, 'They say, “We believe in it; all of it is from our Lord.”'
