Imam an-Nawawi said, in his book Rawdat at-Taalibeen, volume 7 page 289:

If a non-Muslim asks a Muslim to be invited into Islam, and that [Muslim] says  ‘We’ll see’, or ‘Wait until tomorrow‘, or if this non-Muslim asks a person delivering a speech to be invited to Islam, and that person answers ‘Sit until the end of the gathering‘, he came out of Islam.

Points à retenir de cette citation:

• Imam an-Nawawi died in 676 after Hijrah, i.e. more than 700 years ago.  He was from Nawa, a village approximately 80km away from Damascus. He was a Shafi‘ i scholar and wrote several  jurisprudence manuals in this school.  The book Rawdat at-Taalibeen, from which this quote is taken, is one of those fiqh books. It comprises 8 volumes. The chapter dealing with apostasy (i.e. what takes a person out of Islam) spans 21 pages, from page 283 till 304.
• He is the author of “The Gardens of the Righteous” (Riyaad as-Saaliheen) and the collection of 40 hadiths which is so well-known nowadays. He has always been considered as a great scholar.
• Here he explains that  delaying the embracing of Islam of a non-Muslim, for example by asking him to come back the following day, or even by asking him to wait until the end of a speech because the person is busy, is blasphemy (kufr).
• Therefore beware of those who, nowadays, send back home the non-Muslims who come to the Mosque to embrace Islam, by telling them for example that the imam is away, or that they need to take a bath beforehand, or that they need to fetch witnesses, or to take time out to reflect some more time first, wa l-iyaadhu billaah!  Can any of us imagine that the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, would have sent back home a non-Muslim who has expressedly say he wants to embrace Islam but who does not know how to do it? By saying things like ‘Are you sure?’, or ‘Go read such and such book first‘, or ‘Wait a minute I’m busy right now’? Those who do so do the exact OPPOSITE  of why Prophet Muhammad sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam was sent, and that is why this makes them come out of Islam. Thus, if you know someone who says to you ‘I want to embrace Islam, what should I do?’, then it becomes compulsory to order that person to utter the testifications of Faith, i.e. ‘I testify that no one is god except God, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God’.
• Here we are talking about the one who want to EMBRACE Islam, we are not talking about someone who only wants some information on Islam, or who says ‘Im interested in knowing more about Islam’, as for if you say to such a person ‘Let’s me later on this evening for a class on Islam it would not take you out of Islam. Rather, we are talking about the one who has clearly expressed to us his desire to EMBRACE Islam but does not know how to go about it. This person we MUST ask him/her to testify without any delay.

In his book  Daf’ Shubah at-Tashbih against those who claim to be Hanbalis but who have deviated beliefs, Ibn al-Jawzi said, page 41:

‘Know that the term ‘Dahak‘ [literally 'laugh' ) has a certain number of meanings which are linked to 'clarification' and 'to expose'. When someone exposes something that was hidden, it is said about him 'Dahaka' [literally it woud mean 'he laughed' but obviously here it is in the meaning that he 'exposed']. For example, we say :’the Earth dahakat [literally, the Earth 'laughed'], when vegetation starts to show on it, and it gives flowers. It is the same thing when it is said: ‘The sky cried’.  The poet said: ‘Every day the Earth ‘laughed’ (dahakat) with a new daisy/ From the crying of the sky.

The ‘laughter’ that seizes people is only a reference to the fact that when someone laughs, the teeth, which are usually hidden in the mouth, get exposed, shown. But this is impossible to Allah, may He be exalted. Therefore, it is obligatory to consider this hadith as meaning ‘Allah manifested His generosity and His bounty.‘

At the end of his explanation on this issue, on the following page (page 42), here is how he comments the judgement of those who went as far as attributing a molar tooth to Allah:

We are very surprised [i.e. he is]. He has attributed an attribute to Allah on the  basis of a hadith with only one narrator ['aahaad] and whose wording is not even correct! He confirmed a molar tooth to Allah! This one, he  has nothing to do with Islam!

Points à retenir de cette citation:

• Imam Ibn al-Jawzi died in 597 after the Hijrah i.e. more than 800 years ago!
• He wrote this book specifically against those who claim to be Hanbalis but who misunderstood the religious texts. Note that his book is in Arabic and is meant to be read by a public which is fluent in Arabic.
• Here he explains that ‘laughter’ in Arabic is called dahaka because dahaka has a root meaning of exposing/showing. When one laughs, one exposes one’s teeth. Obviously this is not a suitable meaning for Allah. Therefore he proves that in Arabic dahaka  is also used for other meanings which are closer to its root meaning of exposing, and he concludes by saying that in this hadith it shows that the meaning is that Allah showed mercy to the people mentioned, not that He laughed at them wa l-iyaadhu billaah!
• A the end of the book he declares that the people he denounces in his book are not Muslim (article available here).

In this collection of fatwas considered authoritative in the Hanafi madh-hab in India and elsewhere, it is mentioned, volume 2 , page 359:

Points to remember:

• al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya is a collection of fatwas from Hanafi scholars from the Asian continent (especially India) which gathers alomost all the sayings of the school and which is a reference until present daysin terms of Hanafi judgements. It has been written more than 300 years ago.
• It has been said that 500 scholars of the Indian sub-continent worked on this collection of fatwas, each group of scholars from a given Indian state being in charge of a specific chapter), and a fatwa would only get written if no one else would challenge it.
• Here, these scholars are saying that even if the person says ‘Allah  fis-samaa’, depending on what he is aiming at it can be blasphemy. Therefore one should not think that this is only an issue of translation. It is a question of understanding. The one who utters phrases in Arabic, while understanding that Allah is limited, it is blasphemy.
• The original title of this collection is Fatawa-e-Alamgiri, in Persian, from the name of  the sultan Aurangzeb (d.1707 CE) who helped the Hanafi scholars to produce this work. They have very quickly been nicknamed ‘al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya’ in Arabic.

In his biography of Imam Ahmad entitled al-Jawhar al-Muhsal, the Hanbali scholar as-Sa’idi narrates, in the chapter of the belief of Imam Ahmad, the following story:

‘He was a follower of the madh-hab of the Salaf, by declaring Allah exempted [from any resemblance to the Creation] and by the negation of any anthropomorphism. It even happened that he interpreted in some situations. Hanbal (the son of the paternal uncle of Imam Ahmad) said: ‘One day, I heard the son of my uncle say: ‘They [the mu'tazilah] have used as a proof against me, the day of the great debate, [the following hadith whose apparent meaning is]: ‘On the day of judgement, Surat al-Baqarah will come, and Surat Tabaaraka will come!’

[Explanation: the Mu'tazilah, a misguided group, based themselves on this hadith to maintain that teh Qur'an is created and therefore implied that Allah does not have the attribute of al-Kalam, which is a blasphemous belief. Imam Ahmad did not accept to utter this statement, and on the day of the trial of Imam Ahmad, they tried to use this hadith as a proof by saying that if it mentioned that these 2 Surahs will come, therefore it could only mean according to them, that these surahs have been created, as they will move from one place to another]

I said to them ‘It is the reward [that will come'], [indeed] it is the manifestation of His power that will come [qudratuhu]. The Qur’an is full of metaphors, exhortations, commandments, prohibitions and others’.

[Explanation:  this means that Imam Ahmad answered to them that the Qur'an says 'Wa jaa'a Rabbuka' too, so are you going to say that this means that Allah will come too and move? (Imam Ahmad knew that even though they had other wrong beliefs, they did not use to say that God moves or that He is created. It is as if he had told them : 'you and I know that this is not the meaning referred to here. On top of that he explained that when it is mentioned int the hadith that these Surahs will come, truly what is meant is that the rewards due to reading these Surahs will come.]

Points to remember:

• Imam as-Sa’idi died in 900 after the Hijrah, i.e. more than 500 years ago. He was a hanbalite, and this book is specifically dedicated to the life of Imam Ahmad.
• Imam as-Sa’idi starts the chapter of the belief of Imam Ahmad by explaining the belief of the Salaf, and by mentioning the fact that Imam Ahmad did happen to perform interpretations.
• We also learn that Imam Ahmad only performed an interpretation because there was a need, i.e. he needed an argument to prove a misguided group wrong, and this forced him to demosntrates how he understood the verse ‘wa jaa’a Rabbuka’. In other situations, the scholars of the Salaf did not use to make detailed interpretation, but they were performing a ‘general’ interpretations by saying that the apparent meaning is not to be taken into account.
• this interpretation is also narrated by Ibn Kathir (in this website), who quotes al-Bayhaqi who said that the chain of transmission of this event cannot be contested. 

In his book dedicated to Imam al-Ashari and entitled Tabyin Kadhib al-Muftari fima nusiba ila l-imam al-Ash’ari, Imam Ibn Asakir said, p.150:

Also, the ‘Najjariyyah’ say that the Creator, may He be exalted, is in all places without being diffused and without a direction, whereas the ‘Hashawiyyah’ and the ‘Mujassimah’ say that He is present on the Throne, that the Throne is His place, and that He is sitting on it. As for him [i.e. al-Ash'ari], he chose a middle way between the two, and he said that Allah existed and there was no place, then He created the Throne and the Kursi’, He does not need a place, and He is, after having created the places, as He has always been before He created them.

Ibn Kathir narrates the interpretation of imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. He says, in the volume 10 of al-Bidayah wa n-Nihayah, p.327 :

“Al-Bayhaqi narrates from al-Hakim who took it from Amr ibn as-Sammaak, who took it from Hanbal, that Ahmad ibn Hanbal interpreted the saying of Allah ‘wa jaa’a Rabbuka‘ by saying that it ‘His mercy will come’. Thereafter, al-Bayhaqi said ‘This chain cannot be argued about.’

[Explanation: the verse 'wa jaa'a Rabbuka', if taken according to its literal meaning, would mean that Allah would come. However here we can see that Ibn Kathir confirms that Imam Ahmad made an interpretation about this verse, by saying that it will be the reward of Allah which will come (and not Himself, as allah is not subject to movement), and Ibn Kathir declares that the chain of transmission of al-Bayhaqi cannot be contested.]

Points to remember:

• Ibn Kathir died in 774, i.e.  about 650 years ago.
  
• He is only mentioned here because he is taken as a reference by those who call themselves unrightfully the ‘Salafis’.
• Here he narrates that Imam Ahmad made a ‘ta’wil‘ i.e. an interpretation. This interpretation is famously narrated by scholars such as as-Saidi al-Hanbali (also present in this website).
• Also note that he narrates the fact that al-Bayhaqi mentioned that this chain of transmission cannot be argued against.

Ali al-Qari was a great Hanafi scholar born in Afghanistan. He studied and died in Makkah. He was also called ‘Mulla al-Qari’. He said in his explanation of the book ‘al-Fiqh al-Akbar’ by Abu Hanifah, pages 333 et 334:

To answer this [i.e. some false accusations against Abu Hanifah], we can quote the Shaykh, the Imam Ibn ‘Abd as-Salaam who, in his book Hal ar-Ramuz, said that Abu Hanifah, may Allah have mercy upon him:

The one who says :’I do not know if Allah is in the sky or on Earth, has committed blasphemy, because he has attributed a place to Allah (al-Haqq), and the one who imagines that Allah is in a place is an anthropomorphist (mushabbih).’

There is no doubt that Ibn ‘Abd as-Salam is among the most reliable and trustworthy scholars, therefore, it is required to believe in what he narrates.’

In the same book p.355, he says:

Those who have been unjust, who are among those who lied about Allah, or who claimed things which included attributing a place to Allah, of a direction in front [of Him] and a confirmation of a distance [between Him and His creations], and anything similar to this, becomes a disbeliever (kaafir) immediately. [End of quote]

Points to remember:

• Imam Ali al-Qari died in 1014, i.e. more than 400 years ago.
• Also note that Mulla Ali al-Qari declare Ibn ‘Abd as-Salam as a great scholar. Indeed, Ibn ‘Abd al-Salam was called ‘Shaykh al-Islam’ during his time (he died in 660 after the Hijrah).
• Here, this great Hanafi scholar quote the REAL saying of Abu Hanifah on this issue, not the distorted version that some people have circulated.
• He says one should believe Ibn Abd al-Salam when he says that Abu Hanifah declare as blasphemers those who imagine that Allah is in a place.
• He also very clearly says that attributing a place or a direction to Allah is blasphemy without a doubt.
• This book is still in print nowadays, its full title is: Minah ar-Rawd al-Azhar fi sharh al-Fiqh al-Akbar.

Imam an-Nawawi wrote a commentary of the collection of hadith of Imam Muslim. When he reaches the prayer chapter, and he has to explain the hadith whose apparent meaning is that Allah descends during the third part of the night, and which starts with ‘Yanzilu Rabbuna ila s-samaa’i d-dunya“, he says, volume 6, page 279:

With respect to this hadith (hadith al-nuzul) and the like of it of the hadiths about the Divine attributes and their verses, there are two well-known approaches: the approach of most of the Salaf and some of the speculative theologians [mutakallimun] is to believe in their true nature according to what befits Him, Exalted Be He, and that their literal meanings that are commonly acknowledged with reference to us [dhahiriha] are not intended. We are  to not discuss their meanings but all the while believing in God’s being exalted, Glory to Him, from having all the other characteristics of creation such as transference from place to place [intiqal] and movements [harakat] and the other states of the creation.

The second is the approach of most of the speculative theologians and a portion of the Salaf. It is narrated from Malik  and Awza’i that they said they are to be interpreted in a way befitting them according to their non-literal meanings. Accordingly, the report is to be interpreted with two [different forms of] interpretations. One of them is an interpretation by Malik ibn Anas and others, who said: it is His Mercy (rahmah),  His Order (amr) and His angels who descend, as it can be said: ‘the Sultan did so and so’ when actually [the task] has been performed by those under his command [and not by him personally] The second type of explanation is that this is a figurative meaning, i.e. the meaning would be that those who supplicate to Allah will be rewarded, that [their supplication] will be granted, and that they will receive ‘good things‘ (al-lotf).

Points to remember:

• Imam an-Nawawi died in 676 after Hijrah, i.e. more than 700 years ago.  He was from Nawa, a village approximately 80km away from Damascus. He was a Shafi‘ i scholar and wrote several  jurisprudence manuals in this school. He did notwrite this particular explanation to refute Ibn Taymiyya (who was about 15 years old when an-Nawawi died), or the Wahhabis (who appeared during the twelfth century after the Hijrah).
• He is the author of “The Gardens of the Righteous” ( Riyaad as-Saaliheen) and the collection of 40 hadiths which is so well-known nowadays. He has always been considered as a great scholar.
• In this quote, he summed up the two correct ways to approach this kind of non-explicit narrations, and what these methods have in common is that they do not take the literal meanings of those texts.
• He also narrates the interpretations made by scholars from the Salaf. in a nutshell he explains that sometimes, the subject of a verb is not the one who performs the action, as when it is said in Arabic  ‘Banal-Amiru l-Madinata” i.e. literally ‘The Prince built the town’ even though he did not put himself bricks above other bricks. However ‘the prince’ can be the subject of ‘built’ in the sentence, because he is the one who ordered  that the town be built.  Here it is the same reasoning, i.e. ‘Rabbuna’ is the subject of ‘yanzilu’ but this does not mean that it is Allah who descends. This is a way of speech in Arabic (even in English it works, for example if you say ‘Manchester City Council built three schools’, everyone knows that it is not the Lord Mayor Harris Lyons, together with the councillors, who went to build them, but that the Council ordered for them to be built). Therefore Imam an-Nawawi here is giving us a possible interpretation.

Imam Abu Hanifah said, in his book al-Wasiyya, (page 81 of the edition used here):

We recite that Allah is ‘istawa ‘ala’  the throne, without Him having a need, or being establihsed on the Throne. He is the Protector of the Throne and of other than that, without Him having any need, for if  He was in need of anything, He would not have been able to bring this world into existence, nor what happens to it, like the creations. If He had the need to sit (julus) or to establish Himself (istiqrar), then before creating the Throne, where would He have been [that is, according to you?].  Allah is free from what the unjust people attribute to Him.

Points to remember:

• Imam Abu Hanifah is from the SALAF, i.e. the first three generations of this community, which are the best generations. He was born in 80 after the Hijrah and he died in 150, i.e. 1200 years ago. He met some companions, which means that he shared the company of people who had the immense privilege of seeing the Prophet  sallaLLAAHU ‘alayhi wa sallam.
• This book al-Wasiyya is among the FIVE books he authored on the issues of BELIEF.
• Look at how he explains al-Istiwa  to Arabs! He says to them: it does NOT mean istiqrar, and it does not mean julus, which means that this great scholar of the Salaf is saying : ‘do not understand istiwa as being established (which is the meaning of istiqrar) or seated (which is the meaning of julus). How is it then possible to see people nowadays saying carelessly that Allah is ESTABLISHED or SITTING when one of the greatest scholars of the Salaf warned us against understanding this about Allah?
• The reason why we did not translate the phrase ‘istawa ‘ala’ here is because Abu Hanifah, did not provide us with a meaning, which is typical of the majority of the scholars of the Salaf. Therefore, even though other scholars (including scholars of the Salaf) have given precise meanings for istawa ‘ala, we did not translate the phrase here to remain true to the way of Abu Hanifah.