Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
The correct methodology is to believe in everything that Allah تعالى affirmed for Himself, or that His Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم affirmed for Him, in a manner befitting His Majesty, without distortion or denial, and without asking how or likening Him to His creation. We know the meanings of Allah’s Names and Attributes, but we do not know how His Attributes are or encompass their realities and modalities. As for claiming that the Attributes are merely imaginary concepts or approximations with no reality, this is not the correct methodology.
Belief in the Names and Attributes of Allah is part of the foundation of belief in Allah تعالى, because Allah سبحانه knows Himself best and is the most truthful in informing us about Himself, while His Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم was the most knowledgeable of creation concerning Allah and the most truthful in what he conveyed about Him.
Allah تعالى says:
﴿There is nothing whatsoever like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.﴾ [al-Shura: 11]
This verse combines negation and affirmation: it negates any likeness from Allah and affirms hearing and sight for Him.
Therefore, we must believe that He سبحانه is All-Hearing, All-Seeing, All-Knowing, and All-Wise, and that He possesses the Attributes He has informed us about, such as hearing, sight, knowledge, wisdom, rising over the Throne, coming, joy, laughter, anger, pleasure, the Face and the two Hands, and other attributes established in the Qur’an and Sunnah, without likening any of His Attributes to the attributes of His creation.
A distinction must be made between knowing the meaning of an attribute and knowing its modality and the reality of how it is.
We know the basic meanings of hearing, sight, and knowledge, but we do not know how Allah hears, how He sees, or the reality of His Attributes.
Allah تعالى hears all sounds, despite their different languages and dialects, at the same time, and He sees all things, yet we cannot comprehend how this occurs.
Therefore:
This is what scholars mean when they say regarding the Attributes: “The meaning is known, while the modality is unknown.”
This principle is not exclusive to the Attributes of Allah. A person may know the meaning of some matters of the unseen without knowing their exact reality or modality.
For example, we believe that there is honey, wine, and bliss in Paradise, and we understand the basic meanings of these words linguistically. Yet we are certain that what exists in Paradise is not like what exists in this world, as the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم related from his Lord:
“I have prepared for My righteous servants what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and what has never occurred to the heart of a human being.”
Here, a distinction must be made.
If what is meant by saying, “The texts bring the meaning closer to us, but we cannot comprehend the modality or reality of the Attributes,” then this is correct.
But if what is meant is that the Attributes Allah has informed us about have no reality whatsoever, and are merely images and fantasies that Allah or His Messenger presented to people so that they could imagine something that does not actually exist, then this is false.
The Qur’an and Sunnah did not inform us about Allah through imaginary descriptions with no reality. Rather, they informed us about true and established matters concerning Allah, but the modality of those Attributes and the reality of them in a manner befitting Allah are beyond the creature’s perception and ability to encompass.
Affirming the Attributes does not mean that Allah’s Attributes resemble those of His creation.
Allah تعالى says:
﴿There is nothing whatsoever like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.﴾ [al-Shura: 11]
Allah has hearing, but His hearing is not like the hearing of created beings. He has sight, but His sight is not like theirs. He has a Face and two Hands, and other attributes established in the texts, but we must not imagine their modality or compare them to the attributes of created beings.
The correct combination is therefore:
Affirmation without likening, and transcendence without denying the Attributes.
It is incorrect to say: Since we cannot encompass Allah with knowledge, therefore we cannot know the meanings of His Attributes, or that the texts concerning the Attributes are merely expressions whose meanings we cannot understand.
The Companions رضي الله عنهم understood the meanings of the Qur’an. They knew that Allah is All-Hearing and All-Seeing, that He is above His creation, and that He possesses the Attributes He affirmed for Himself. However, they did not burden themselves with asking about how those Attributes are.
This is the difference between ignorance of the modality and ignorance of the meaning.
Errors in this subject can occur from two directions:
First: Imagining and likening, whereby a person imagines Allah’s Attributes according to the form of created attributes.
This is false, because Allah تعالى says:
﴿There is nothing whatsoever like Him.﴾ [al-Shura: 11]
Second: Denying the meanings and nullifying the texts, by saying that we do not even know the meaning of what Allah has informed us about Himself, or that these texts are merely symbols and imagined concepts with no reality.
The correct position is to affirm what Allah affirmed for Himself while believing that no one knows the modality of His Attributes except Him.
The criterion is not the large number of sects and groups. Rather, it is returning to the Qur’an and Sunnah and to what the Companions of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم followed.
Allah تعالى says:
﴿If you differ over anything, refer it to Allah and the Messenger, if you truly believe in Allah and the Last Day.﴾ [al-Nisa’: 59]
A Muslim should not allow the abundance of opinions to cause confusion. Rather, he should ask: What did Allah affirm for Himself? What has been authentically established from His Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم? And how did the Companions understand it?
The correct methodology concerning the Names and Attributes of Allah is to believe in what has been established in the Qur’an and Sunnah, affirm the meanings of the Attributes in a manner befitting Allah, while denying any resemblance between them and the attributes of created beings, and refraining from seeking to determine their modality.
The statement “They do not encompass Him in knowledge” does not mean that we understand nothing about Allah’s Names and Attributes. Rather, it means that we cannot encompass Allah تعالى, nor can we encompass the modality of His Attributes or the reality of how they are.
Accordingly, if by saying that the texts are “for approximation” you mean that we understand from them real meanings that befit Allah, while being unable to comprehend their modality, then this is correct. But if you mean that they are merely fantasies and symbols with no reality, then this is incorrect.
And Allah knows best.