Hadith of the Slave Girl. Where is Allah?

“And he is with you wherever you are.” (Qur’an 57:4)

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First and foremost let us be clear.

There is no such hadith of the Slave Girl.

As if it is an ahad narration with only one type of matn (textual tradition).

What is true however, is that there is the incident of the slave girl and then we have many narrations of that incident with many textual variations.

We can see that those who call themselves the Sunni Muslims will dispute over the question: Where is Allah?

They get into conflict among themselves in regard to the following ahadith:

Narrated Mu’awiyah b. al-Hakam al-Sulami:

I said: Messenger of Allah, I have a slave girl whom I slapped. This grieved the Messenger of Allah (saw). I said to him: Should I not emancipate her? He said: Bring her to me. He said: Then I brought her. He asked: Where is Allah ? She replied: In the heaven. He said: Who am I ? She replied: You are the Messenger of Allah. He said: Emancipate her, she is a believer.

Source: (https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3282)

Narrated Abu Hurairah:

A man brought the Prophet (saw) a black slave girl. He said: Messenger of Allah, emancipation of believing slave is due to me. He asked her: Where is Allah ? She pointed to the heaven with her finger. He then asked her: Who am I ? She pointed to the Prophet (saw) and to the heaven, that is to say: You are the Messenger of Allah. He then said: Set her free, she is a believer.

Source: (https://sunnah.com/abudawud:3284)

So what happens is that the Sunni Muslims that are Ash’ari or Maturidi  will usually quote the hadith about the woman using an action by “pointing to heaven“.

This gives opportunity for a quick counter rebuttal (to those who believe Allah is in a defalt location) because we know that Earth is spinning on its axis. Thus, if the Blessed Prophet (saw) were to ask the woman the same question a few hours from that point or eleven hours later the same response would hold true.

The Sunni Muslims that are Athari/Salafi/Wahabbi they tend to prefer the first hadith where the woman is reported to have verbally replied: “In the heaven”.

Not withstanding that some of their scholars have graded the hadith on pointing with the finger as being weak.

I have always found their appeal to this particular narration about the woman replying: “In the heaven” to be quite fascinating and perplexing. Why I find it as such is because I was always of the impression that Athari/Salafi/Wahhabi have always found the concept of Hulul (divine indwelling) in the creation to be blasphemous.

Yet, not so fast….Prima Qur’an!

Do the Athari/Salafi/Wahabbi REALLY BELIEVE ALLAH IS IN THE HEAVEN as the woman affirmed?

No, no they don’t.

“The text which describe Allah as being in heaven mean that He is high above his creation: they do not mean that the heavens surrounds and encompasses Him. That is because heaven [sama’] here means high, and it is not referring to the created heaven. Or it may be said that the proportion in [fi] in this case means above [‘ala], i.e, above the heaven.”

In other words these people practice Ta’wil figurative interpretation of text that state that Allah (swt) is IN and replace it with ABOVE. Even thought the text have an explicit meaning.

Narrated `Abdullah:

A (Jewish) Rabbi came to Allah’s Messenger (saw) and he said, “O Muhammed! We learn that Allah will put all the heavens on one finger, and the earths on one finger, and the trees on one finger, and the water and the dust on one finger, and all the other created beings on one finger. Then He will say, ‘I am the King.’ Thereupon the Prophet (saw) smiled so that his pre-molar teeth became visible, and that was the confirmation of the Rabbi. Then Allah’s Messenger (saw) recited: ‘They made not a just estimate of Allah such as is due to Him. And on the Day of Resurrection the whole of the earth will be grasped by His Hand and the heavens will be rolled up in His Right Hand. Glorified is He, and High is He above all that they associate as partners with Him.‘ (39.67)

Source: (https://sunnah.com/bukhari:4811)

“They did not recognise the true worth of Allah.(Such is Allah’s power that) on the Day of Resurrection the whole earth will be in His grasp, and the heavens (wal-samāwātu) shall be folded up in His Right Hand. Glory be to Him! Exalted be He from all that they associate with Him.” (Qur’an 39:67)

“Have you taken security from Him Who is in the heaven (fi samwati) that He will not cause the earth to swallow you when lo! it is convulsed?” (Qur’an 67:16)

So this is how we know that there is majaz figurative language in the Qur’an and the Sunnah. There is a section of Muslims who endanger the creed of themselves and the Ummah because they take the apparent meaning of text (well they do when they can’t except for when they are trapped like we demonstrated above).

The above verse of the (Qur’an 39:67) states that the heavens will be rolled up.

Narrated Imran bin Husain:

I went to the Prophet (saw) and tied my she-camel at the gate. The people of Bani Tamim came to the Prophet (saw) who said “O Bani Tamim! Accept the good tidings.” They said twice, ‘You have given us the good tidings, now give us something” Then some Yemenites came to him and he said, “Accept the good tidings, O people of Yemem, for Bani Tamim refused them.” They said, “We accept it, O Allah’s Messenger (saw)! We have come to ask you about this matter (i.e. the start of creations).” He said, “First of all, there was nothing but Allah, and (then He created His Throne). His throne was over the water, and He wrote everything in the Book (in the Heaven) and created the Heavens and the Earth.” Then a man shouted, “O Ibn Husain! Your she-camel has gone away!” So, I went away and could not see the she-camel because of the mirage. By Allah, I wished I had left that she-camel (but not that gathering).

Source: (https://sunnah.com/bukhari/59/2)

Is is quite obvious from even the apparent reading of the above text that Allah (swt) is not above the heavens and the earth at the point of which they are not even have been created.

Waki’ bin Hudus narrated that his paternal uncle Abu Razin said:

“I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah (saw), where was our Lord before He created His creation?’ He said: He was above the clouds, below which was air, and above which was air and water. Then He created His Throne above the water.'”

Source: (https://sunnah.com/urn/1251810)

This hadith has a grading of Hassan (it is fair) and before the establishment of various categories of hadith it would have received the grading of sahih (sound). Yet, the problem with it is very clear from the matn (text) itself.

Clouds, air, water are all creations. The wording of the text indicates that these things existed along with Allah (swt) and that his relation with them is simply in being above them but not being the creator of them. This can be solved by harmonizing it with other text that Allah (swt) clearly mention Allah (swt) is the creator of all things and by that it would mean the clouds, air and water.

There are other obvious problems with just taking the hadith of the slave girl at face value: Even if she replied that Allah is in the heaven how would that be taken to mean that she is a believer?

The belief that “Allah is in the heaven” neither establishes monotheism nor negates polytheism — because some polytheists acknowledged the existence of Allah, as do Christians, yet they associate others with Him in divinity.

The Christians believe that as well:

“He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:3)

“But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.  “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:55-56)

The very fact of something being in heaven does not indicate that it is God.

The very concept or idea of God being in heaven does not indicate that someone believes that this God is one being that is not comprised of persons.

Recall what the Ahl Khilaf (people of the opposition) of the truth: Salafi/Athari/Wahhabis have said above:

“The texts which describe Allah as being in heaven mean that He is high above His creation: they do not mean that the heaven surrounds and encompasses Him. That is because heaven [sama’] here means high, and it is not referring to the created heaven. Or it may be said that the proposition in [fi] in this case means above [‘ala], i.e., above the heaven.”

DOES THE IBADI HADITH COLLECTION HAVE ANYTHING INTERESTING TO SAY ON THIS MATTER?

We find in the Al Jami al Sahih, musnad al rabi’

47) – “Freeing of a Slave”

681- ‘Abū Ubayda narrated from Jābir ‘Ibn Zayd that a man went to the Prophet (saw), and said to him: “O Prophet, I have a slave girl who tends my flock of sheeps. But, I just found out that I lost a sheep. When I questioned her about this, she replied that the wolf had devoured her. I became irritated so much that I slapped her. Now, I have to free a slave. Should I free her?” The Prophet (saw) said: “If she can come, bring her to me!”. The man went to get her and brought her with him. The Prophet, (saw) said to her: “Who is your lord?“. She said: “Allah is my lord”. The Prophet, (saw) said: “Who then is your Prophet?”. She replied: “You are Muḥammad, the Prophet of Allah”. So, the Prophet, (saw) said at that time: “free her because she is a believer”.

Source: al-Imām al-Rabī‘ — His Status and His Musnad, by Shaykh Sa‘īd al-Qanūbī.

(“Where is your lord”) Source: https://sunnah.com/mishkat:3303

(“Who is your lord”) Source: https://sunnah.com/nasai:3653 this matches with the hadith in the ibadi hadith collection.

There are many other issues with the particular version of the hadith

First: It contradicts what has been mutawātir (mass-transmitted) from the Prophet (saw) — that when someone came to him wanting to accept Islam, he would command them to utter the two testimonies (shahādah), without asking them this question or anything similar.

Second: It contradicts what has been authentically established from the Prophet (saw)— that when he sent some of his Companions to call people to Islam, he instructed them to order the people to testify “that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”, without commanding them to explain or ask about this alleged belief.

Third: The Prophet (saw) explained the pillars of Islam and faith in the Hadith of Jibrīl (Gabriel) — peace be upon him — and did not mention the belief that “Allah is in the heaven”, which is the belief of the anthropomorphist (mujassimah). Exalted is Allah far above that.

Fourth: It contradicts the Hadith: “I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammed is the Messenger of Allah. If they do so, they have protected from me their blood and their wealth, except by the right of Islam, and their reckoning is with Allah.” Many have stated that this Hadith is mutawātir.

Fifth: It contradicts the consensus of the ummah — that whoever utters the two testimonies and believes in what the Messenger (saw) brought has entered Islam.

Sixth: As mentioned from the beginning there is no such thing as ‘the hadith of the slave girl’. Rather we have many narrations of that incident with many textual variations

Among them: it has also been reported as: “Do you testify that there is no god but Allah?” She replied: “Yes…” etc.
Reported by Mālik, Ahmad (vol. 3 p. 452), ‘Abd al-Razzāq in al-Muṣannaf (vol. 9 p. 175), ‘Abd ibn Ḥumayd, al-Bazzār, al-Dārimī (vol. 2 p. 187), al-Ṭabarānī (vol. 12 p. 27), Ibn Abī Shaybah, Ibn al-Jārūd (no. 931), and al-Bayhaqī (vol. 10 p. 57).
Al-Haythamī said in Majma‘ al-Zawā’id (vol. 4 p. 244): “The men of Ahmad’s chain are those of the authentic collections”, and similarly in vol. 1 p. 23. Ibn Kathīr said in his Tafsīr (1/547): “Its chain is authentic, and the anonymity of the Companion does not harm it.” It was also authenticated by Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr in al-Tamhīd (vol. 9 p. 114)

The second wording is correct, as it conforms to the mutawātir practice of the Prophet (saw), as explained above.

If it is said: The first wording is correct because Imām Muslim narrated it — we reply: Preferring the narration of the two Shaykhs (al-Bukhārī and Muslim) or one of them over others merely for that reason is very weak, rather baseless, for there is no evidence for it. In fact, the evidences — by Allah’s grace — are abundant against it. This is the view of the majority of the ummah.

Among those who adopted this view from later scholars are: the great scholar Qāsim, al-Kamāl ibn al-Humām in Fatḥ al-Qadīr and al-Taḥrīr, his commentators Ibn Amīr al-Ḥajj Muḥammad al-Amīn (known as Amīr Bād Shāh), Ibn Kathīr, al-Qasṭallānī, ‘Alī al-Qārī, al-Ṣan‘ānī, Akram al-Sindī, Aḥmad Shākir, al-Kawtharī, and others — and it is the truth

Seventh:  Even if we hypothetically accepted that Muslim’s wording is equal to the other two, it would still not be permissible to use it as proof, because in that case the Hadith would be open to multiple interpretations. And when there is such uncertainty, the proof is invalidated, as is established among the people of knowledge and virtue.

Eighth: Yaḥyā ibn Abī Kathīr — one of the narrators of this Hadith — was a mudallis (one who conceals the source of his narration). Although he did explicitly state hearing in some reports, some scholars still do not accept the narration of a mudallis even if he states hearing. There is no doubt that what is agreed upon takes precedence over what is disputed.

Ninth: This Hadith contradicts definitive rational and textual proofs indicating that the Exalted Lord is not confined to the direction above. A solitary (āḥād) Hadith is not used as proof in matters of creed — as we have clarified in the treatise Akhbār al-Āḥād — especially when it contradicts definitive proofs.

Be careful of those who are not sound in their theology.

For further reading:

When is Allah / Where is Allah ? Careful of traps

https://primaquran.com/2023/07/11/is-allah-every-where-2/

https://primaquran.com/2022/10/04/the-consistent-view-would-be-that-allah-exist-in-a-set/

https://primaquran.com/2024/01/25/those-who-ask-where-but-not-when-in-regard-to-their-lord/

https://primaquran.com/2022/10/04/where-is-allah-allah-is-in-london-england/

May Allah Guide the Ummah.

May Allah Forgive the Ummah.