Ibn Taymiyyah brings a narration where Aisha, the Mother of the Believers, once asked the Prophet ﷺ whether Allah knows everything that people hide. The Prophet ﷺ replied, “Yes.” This question, he explains, shows that Aisha did not yet know this attribute of Allah. Despite this being a foundational belief in Islam, her ignorance at that moment did not make her a disbeliever. Ibn Taymiyyah uses this to argue that a person may be unaware of a basic matter of iman without being ruled a disbeliever, as long as the clear evidence has not yet reached them.
He goes on to affirm that believing in Allah’s complete knowledge is indeed one of the fundamentals of faith. However, the legal ruling of disbelief (takfir) only applies after the truth has been made clear and the person knowingly rejects it. Therefore, even if a statement is considered kufr in itself, the person who says it is not to be judged a disbeliever unless the proof (hujjah) has been established.
The hadith he brings from Sahih Muslim shows on one night when the Prophet ﷺ left Aisha’s room silently to visit the graves of al-Baqiʿ. She thought he had gone to another wife, so she followed him without his knowledge. When he returned and saw her out of breath, he asked her about it. She tried to hide the truth, and when pressed, she told him what she had done.
In response, the Prophet ﷺ asked her a rhetorical question and then struck her lightly on the chest and said:
“Did you think that Allah and His Messenger would be unjust to you?”
She replied: “Whatever people hide, does Allah know it?”
He ﷺ answered:
“Yes.”
Translation: Whoever studies the authentic hadiths carefully will find among them examples of this kind that support it, just as Muslim narrated in his Sahih from Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her. She said, “Shall I not tell you about myself and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him?” We said, “Yes!” She said, “When it was my night with the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, he turned over, placed his cloak aside, removed his sandals and placed them by his feet, spread the edge of his waist-wrapper on his bed, and lay down. He did not remain still except for the time it takes to assume I had fallen asleep. Then he slowly took his cloak, quietly got up, gently opened the door, went out, and softly shut it behind him.
So I placed my garment over my head, wrapped myself in my outer garment, and followed him until he came to al-Baqi. He stood there and stood for a long time, then he raised his hands three times. Then he turned around and I also turned, he quickened his pace and I did too, he hurried and I hurried, he ran and I ran, until I reached the house before him. I lay down, and he entered.
He said, ‘What is the matter with you, Aisha? You are out of breath and your chest is heaving.’ I said, ‘Nothing.’ He said, ‘You will tell me or the Subtle and All-Aware will inform me.’ I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, may my father and mother be sacrificed for you,’ then I told him. He said, ‘So you were the black shape I saw in front of me?’
I said, ‘Yes.’ So he struck me on my chest a blow that hurt me. Then he said, ‘Did you think that Allah and His Messenger would be unjust to you?’ I said, ‘Whatever people hide, does Allah know it?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Indeed Jibril came to me when you saw, and he called me, but he concealed himself from you, and I responded to him and hid it from you.
He would not enter upon you while you had removed your clothes, and I thought you had fallen asleep and I disliked waking you and feared that you would become alarmed.
So he said, “Your Lord commands you to go to the people of al-Baqi and seek forgiveness for them.”’ I said, ‘What should I say, O Messenger of Allah?’ He said, ‘Say: Peace be upon the inhabitants of these dwellings, from the believers and the Muslims, and may Allah have mercy on those who went before us and those who will come after us, and indeed we, if Allah wills, will join you.’”
So this is Aisha, the Mother of the Believers. She asked the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, “Does Allah know everything people hide?” and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to her, “Yes.”
This shows that she did not previously know this, and yet she was not a disbeliever before knowing that Allah knows everything that people conceal. Even though affirming that after the proof is established is one of the foundations of iman, and denying His knowledge of everything is like denying His power over everything.
Along with that, she was among those deserving of blame for her action. That is why the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, struck her and said, “Do you think that Allah and His Messenger would be unjust to you?” This principle is discussed in detail elsewhere.
So it becomes clear that this statement is disbelief, but declaring the person who says it to be a disbeliever is not judged until the evidence has reached him which establishes the proof, and that the one who rejects it is to be considered a disbeliever.
The signs of the corruption of this statement are many in the Book and the Sunnah and the consensus of the Salaf of this ummah, its imams and its mashayikh, and it does not need to be elaborated here. Rather, it is known necessarily from the religion of Islam that command and prohibition apply to people until death.
As for the one who says, “Could such a thing come from someone who truly submits to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him?”
It is said: this could not come from anyone who affirms prophethood at all. In fact, the one who says such a thing is a disbeliever in all the prophets and messengers, because they all came with command and prohibition for the people until death. This statement cannot even come from someone who submits to Allah and affirms that He is the Lord of the universe. For this affirmation requires that a person be a servant of Allah, submitting to Him. So whoever permits someone to do whatever they want without worshipping Allah, has denied that Allah is his Lord.
Majmu Fatawa By Ibn Taymiyyah (11/411-413)
Ibn Taymiyyah is criticsed for this because people do not know he quoteda variation of the hadith in Sahih Muslim, he did not slander the mother of the believers. In the variant which will be showed below it is quoted as Aisha saying: قالت: مهما يكتم الناس يعلمه الله؟ ” She replied: “Whatever people hide, does Allah know it?”
He ﷺ answered: “Yes.” قال: نعم
In Sahih Muslim, it shows Aisha says: She said: “Whatever people conceal, Allah knows it. Yes.”
In sharh Sahih Muslim (7/38) He says:
She said: Whatever people keep hidden, Allah knows it. Yes.)
So she then said, “Yes.”
(Click Here For The Reference In Arabic)
However we see a variation of this hadih in Sunan An Nasai and Musnad Ahmad with authentic chains with support the the wording that Ibn Taymiyyah. So anyone who has a problem with what Ibn Taymiyyah said does not have an issue with Ibn Taymiyyah
The reason why Ibn Taymiyyah uses this is because even though denying Allah’s complete knowledge is kufr, Aisha was not judged a disbeliever before she learned, because the proof had not yet reached her. This demonstrates his principle that ignorance before the establishment of evidence prevents takfīr.
The principle we can derive from this: Some statements in themselves are kufr. But declaring the specific person a kāfir (takfīr al-muʿayyan) depends on iqāmat al-ḥujjah (the proof being established). Without that, the person may be excused due to ignorance or misunderstanding, even in matters that are from the foundations of īmān.
Ibn Taymiyyah expands on this and says anyone who claims there is no command and prohibition upon people until death, or that Allah does not know what people hide, has contradicted the very foundations of Islam. Such words are kufr by agreement of Qurʾan, Sunnah, ijmāʿ, and the salaf. But again, the person only becomes a kāfir if the binding proof reaches him and he rejects it.
Below We See The Variation Ibn Taymiyyah & This Variation Is Graded As Sahih.
Aisha said: “Whatever people conceal, Allah knows it.?” He (ﷺ) said: “Yes.”
