I say: Al-Awza‘i made this statement after the emergence of Jahm’s views, which denied that Allah is above His Throne and rejected His attributes. He wanted people to know that the belief of the early scholars was the complete opposite of this.
Abu Bakr al-Khallal narrated in Kitab al-Sunnah that Al-Awza‘i said: Makhul and al-Zuhri were asked about the interpretation of hadiths regarding Allah’s attributes, and they replied: "Let them pass as they came."
Al-Khallal also reported that Al-Walid ibn Muslim said: "I asked Malik ibn Anas, Sufyan al-Thawri, Al-Layth ibn Sa‘d, and Al-Awza‘i about the hadiths concerning Allah’s attributes. They said: 'Let them pass as they came.' In another narration, they added: 'without asking how.'”
Their statement, "Let them pass as they came," was a response to those who denied Allah’s attributes. And their statement, "without asking how," was a response to those who likened Him to His creation. Al-Zuhri and Makhul were among the most knowledgeable scholars of their time, while the other four were leading scholars in the generation after them - alongside figures like Hammad ibn Zayd and Hammad ibn Salamah.
Many people mistakenly assume that the early scholars followed the approach of "tafwid" (leaving the meanings unknown). However, what is certain is that they were completely free from "ta'wil" (reinterpretation), and even more so from "takhyil" (claiming these attributes are mere illusions).
The statements quoted by the scholar clearly show that the early scholars did not follow the approach of tafwid. In fact, these statements are direct criticisms of both ta'wil and tafwid.
Some who support tafwid argue: "Didn’t prominent early scholars say, 'Let them pass as they came'? This means they left the meanings unknown!"
The answer is no. Those who practice tafwid claim that the apparent meaning of the text is not intended. But if they believe that the apparent meaning is not meant, then are they truly letting the text "pass as it came"? The answer is no.
When the early scholars added "without asking how," it was clear that they were distancing themselves from any form of distortion. Their rejection of likening Allah to creation is well understood. But their statement, "Let them pass as they came, without asking how," simply negates knowledge of how these attributes are. This itself proves that they did understand the basic meaning of the attributes.
If they had no knowledge of the meaning at all, they wouldn’t have needed to clarify that the how is unknown. Knowing how something is comes after knowing its basic meaning. If the basic meaning were completely unknown, there would be no need to deny knowledge of how it applies.
Ibn al-Layth
