Affirmation that Allah has two feet

Question

Praise be to Allah.

One of the
confirmed attributes of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, is the
foot.

The evidence for
that is the report narrated by al-Bukhaari
(6661) and Muslim (2848) from
AnasibnMaalik,
according to which the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
said: “Hell will keep saying, ‘Are there any more (to come)?’ until the Lord
of Glory, may He be blessed and exalted, places His foot on it, then it will
say, ‘Enough, enough, by Your glory!’ And all its parts will be integrated
together.

Al-Bukhaari
(4850) and Muslim (2847) narrated that Abu

Hurayrah
(may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) said: “Hell and Paradise disputed, and Hell said: ‘I have
been
favoured
with the arrogant
and proud.’ Paradise said: ‘What is the matter with me, that no one will
enter me except the weak, humble and downtrodden?’ Allah, may He be blessed
and exalted, said to Paradise: ‘You are My mercy by which I will show mercy
to whomsoever I will of My slaves.’ And He said to Hell: ‘You are My
punishment with which I will punish whomsoever I will of My slaves. And each
of you will be full.’ As for Hell, it will not be full until Allah, may He
be blessed and exalted, places His foot on it and it says, ‘Enough, enough.’
Then it will be full and all its parts will be integrated together, and
Allah will not treat any of His creation unjustly. As for Paradise, Allah
will create a creation just for it.”

This indicates
that it is confirmed that Allah, may He be exalted, has a foot.

Ibn ‘Abbaas (may
Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Kursiy (foot stool) is the place of
the two feet, and the size of Throne cannot be known.”

This was narrated
by
Ibn Khuzaymah
in at-Tawheed,
1/248, no. 154; Ibn Abi Shaybah in al-‘Arsh, 61; ad-Daarimi in
ar-Radd ‘ala al-Muraysi; ‘Abdullah ibn al-Imam Ahmad in
as-Sunnah;
and al-Haakim
in al-Mustadrak, 2/282 – he classed it as

saheeh
according to the conditions of the two

shaykhs
(al-Bukhaari and Muslim), and

adh-Dhahabi
agreed with him. It was also classed as

saheeh
by al-Albaani
in
Mukhtasar
al-‘Uluw,
p. 102; and by Ahmad Shaakir in ‘Umdat at-Tafseer, 2/163.

Abu
Moosa
al-Ash‘ari (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Kursiy is the place for
the two feet, and it creaks as a saddle creaks.

Narrated by
‘Abdullah ibn al-Imam Ahmad in as-Sunnah; Ibn Abu Shaybah in
al-‘Arsh, 60; and by Ibn Jareer, al-Bayhaqi and others. Its isnaad was
classed as saheeh in al-Fath, 8/47 and by al-Albaani in Mukhtasar
al-‘Uluw, p. 123-124

These two reports
confirm that Allah, may He be exalted, has two feet, and this is the belief
of Ahl as-Sunnah.

Imam Abu ‘Ubayd
al-Qaasim ibn Salaam (may Allah have mercy on him) said: These hadeeths
which say that our Lord smiles at the despair of His slaves when things will
soon change, and that Hell will not be filled until your Lord places His
foot on it, and that the Kursiy is the place for the two feet – these
hadeeths, as narrated, are true in our opinion; they were narrated from
trustworthy narrators to other trustworthy narrators. But if we are asked
about their meaning, we do not explain them, and we have never seen any
scholar discuss their meanings.

Narrated by
al-Bayhaqi in al-Asma’ wa’s-Sifaat, 2/198; Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr in
at-Tamheed, 7/149

In Fataawa
al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah (2/376) it says: What we must do is affirm that
which Allah has affirmed for Himself, such as two hands, two feet, fingers
and other attributes that are mentioned in the Qur’an and Sunnah, in a
manner that is befitting to Allah, may He be glorified, without distorting
the meaning, discussing how, likening Him to His creation or denying any of
His attributes, because He, may He be glorified, says (interpretation of the
meaning):

“Say (O Muhammad
(Peace be upon him)): “He is Allah, (the) One.

Allah-us-Samad
(The Self-Sufficient Master, Whom all creatures need, He neither eats nor
drinks).

He begets not, nor
was He begotten;

And there is none
co-equal or comparable unto Him.”

[al-Ikhlaas
112:1-3]

“There is nothing
like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer”

[ash-Shoora 42:11].

So we take these
(attributes) as true in a real sense, not metaphorical. As for going to
extremes in affirming attributes that are not mentioned in the Qur’an or
sunnah, we have to refrain from doing so.

Standing Committee
for Academic Research and Issuing Fatwas

Bakr Abu Zayd,
‘Abd al-‘Azeez Aal ash-Shaykh, Saalih al-Fawzaan, ‘Abdullah ibn Ghadyaan,
‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Baaz. End quote.

Shaykh ‘Abd
ar-Rahmaan al-Barraak (may Allah preserve him) said: This hadeeth confirms
that Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, has a foot. Ahl as-Sunnah
affirm that Allah has what is mentioned in this hadeeth in a true sense, as
they affirm all other divine attributes, as they affirm that He has two
hands and two eyes, and they say that He, may He be exalted, has two feet,
as is mentioned in the well-known report from Ibn ‘Abbaas that describes the
Kursiy (footstool) and says that it is the place for the feet – i.e., the
feet of the Lord, may He be glorified and exalted.

The view about the
feet and hands is the same, and there is no room for differentiation.

End quote from
Sharh al-Waasitah, p. 172

What is proven is
that Allah, may He be exalted, will place His foot on Hell. We believe in
this but we stop at this point and refrain from going further (in
discussion). We do not say that He will place both of His feet on it, just
as we do not say that He wrote the Torah with His two hands. Rather we
adhere to what has been narrated, because with regard to the divine
attributes, the matter is based on tawqeef (i.e., limiting it only to what
has been narrated in sound texts).

And Allah knows
best.