5- They deny that Allah is above His creation. The belief of the Muslims, as indicated by the verses of the Quran, the narrations of the Prophet sound human nature and clear common sense is that Allah is above His creation, over His Throne, and nothing at all of His creatures’ affairs is hidden from Him. Allah Says (what means): “and then He rose over (Istawaa) the Throne (really in a manner that suits His Majesty)”. [Quran 7:54] – this phrase appears seven times in the Quran.

　　Allah also Says (what means): “To Him ascend (all) the goodly words, and the righteous deeds exalt it (i.e. the goodly words are not accepted by Allah unless and until they are followed by good deeds)” [Quran 35:10]

　　Allah also Says (what means): “And He is the Most High, the Most Great” [Quran 2:255]

　　And also (what means): “And to Allah prostrate all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth, of the moving (living) creatures and the angels, and they are not proud [i.e. they worship their Lord (Allah) with humility]. They fear their Lord above them, and they do what they are commanded” [Quran 16:49-50].

　　Many authentic narrations have been narrated from the Prophet on this topic, for example: the story of the Mi’raaj (ascent into the heavens), which is authentic, when the Prophet passed through the heavens one by one, until he reached his Lord, Who brought him close or called to him, and enjoined fifty prayers upon him, then he kept going back and forth between Moosaa may Allah exalt his mention and his Lord. He came down from the presence of his Lord to Moosaa may Allah exalt his mention, and Moosaa may Allah exalt his mention asked him, “How many (prayers) have been enjoined upon you?” When he told him, Moosaa may Allah exalt his mention said, “Go back to your Lord and ask Him to reduce them.” So he went back up to his Lord and asked Him to reduce them.

　　Abu Hurayrah may Allah be pleased with him said: the Messenger of Allah said: “When Allah created His creation, He wrote in a Book which is with Him, above the Throne: ‘My Mercy prevails over My wrath.’” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

　　Abu Sa’eed Al-Khudri may Allah be pleased with him that the Prophet said: “Do you not trust me, when I am the trustee of the One Who is in the heaven?” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

　　The Prophet said: “The Throne is above water, and Allah is above the Throne, and Allah knows what you are doing.” [Ibn Khuzaymah and Abu Daawood]

　　The Prophet said to the slave-girl, “Where is Allah?” She said: “In heaven.” He said: “Who am I?” She said, “You are the Messenger of Allah.” He said: “Set her free, for she is a believer.” [Muslim]

　　This is the pure belief which was adhered to by the Muslims: the companions may Allah be pleased with them, and those who have followed them in truth until the present day, praise be to Allah. Because of the great importance of this topic and the fact that so much evidence more than one thousand verses and prophetic narrations– points to it, the scholars have devoted books to it, e.g., Abu ‘Abdullaah Ath-Thahabi in al-‘Alu li’l-‘Aliy al-Ghaffaar, and Ibn Al-Qayyim in Ijtimaa’ al-Juyoosh al-Islamiyyah.

　　6. They speak of some of the Companions of the Prophet in a manner that is not appropriate.

　　An example of that is their statement that Mu’aawiyah may Allah be pleased with him was a faasiq (rebellious evildoer). The Muslims should not discuss what happened among the Sahaabah, may Allah be pleased with them all; they should refrain from speaking whilst believing that all of them were good and had the virtue of having been companions of the Messenger of Allah . It was reported that the Prophet said: “Do not slander my Companions, for even if any of you were to spend (in charity) gold equivalent to the size of Mount Uhud, he would never reach their level, not even half way.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]. And Allah says (what means): “And those who came after them say: Our Lord! Forgive us and our brethren who have preceded us in Faith, and put not in our hearts any hatred against those who have believed. Our Lord! You are indeed full of kindness, Most Merciful.” [Quran 59:10]

　　This is the sound belief concerning the Companions of the Prophet . This is the belief of Ahlus-Sunnah Wal-Jamaa’ah throughout the centuries. Imaam Abu Ja’faar Ath-Tahhaawi may Allah have mercy on him said explaining the beliefs of Ahlus-Sunnah Wal-Jamaa’ah: “We love the companions of the Messenger of Allah but we do not go to extremes in our love for any of them, and we do not disown any of them. We hate those who hate them, and we do not say anything but good about them (the companions). Love for them is true religion, faith and goodness; hatred for them is disbeliefe, hypocrisy and transgression.”

　　Their Jurisprudence Rulings:

　　This group follows weird jurisprudence rulings, and their rulings go against the texts of the Quran and Sunnah. Examples of that include the following:

　　They permit gambling with the disbelievers in order to take away their money; they permit stealing their crops and animals, on the condition that this stealing will not cause tribulation; they permit dealing in Ribaa when dealing with the disbelievers; they permit those who are in need to buy lottery tickets, which is prohibited.

　　Other ways in which they obviously go against the sharee’ah include:

　　They permit looking at non-mahram (marriageable women) woman in a mirror or on a screen, even with desire; they say that persisting in looking at a non-mahram woman is not prohibited; they say that for a man to look at any part of a woman who is not permissible for him is not prohibited; they say that if a woman goes out wearing make-up and perfume but she does not have the intention of attracting men, this is not prohibited; they permit free mixing of men and women; and they have other odd and outrageous rulings which go against Islam and they consider things which are major sins to be permissible. We ask Allah to keep us safe from that which will provoke His wrath and earn His punishment.

　　Their position towards scholars:

　　Some of the outrageous means they use to turn people away from the scholars who have deep knowledge, and put people off from reading their books or referring to the reports transmitted from them, include: slandering them, belittling them and undermining them, and even denouncing them as kaafirs. Chief among the scholars whom they defame in this manner is the Imaam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him. ‘Abdullaah Al-Habashi even wrote a book specifically about this reforming Imaam , in which he accused him of being misguided and misled; he attributed to him words that he did not say, and fabricated other lies about him. Allah will deal with him, and it is before Allah that all disputing parties will ultimately meet.

　　They also slander the reforming Shaykh Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdul-Wahhaab, may Allah have mercy on him, and his call for reform which he undertook in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula, where he called people to follow Tawheed and cast aside Shirk, to honor the texts of the Quran and Sunnah and to act upon them, and to uphold the Sunnah and do away with bid’ah.

　　Al-Ahbaash (the Habashis) -I