Sayyid Abd al-Azim al-Hasani, One of the Greatest Defenders of Ahlul Bayt (A.S.) - Part 8
This is because Mutawakkil had embarked upon promoting two corrupt ideas.
1) Spreading hatred, rancour and enmity of the Ahlul Bayt and the destruction of the grave of Imam al-Husayn [and related infrastructure] as well as stopping pilgrims from visiting his grave.
2) Spreading the idea of divine anthropomorphism and exploiting the traditionsits in fabricating and transmitting traditions which gave credence to that idea.
Thus in those difficult and harsh circumstances against the Shi’ites and their scholars, Sayyid ‘Abd al-Azim fled to Ray and remained there far from the eyes of the people.
Al-Dhahabi writes: ‘Mutawakkil despatched jurists and traditionists, commanding them to sit with the people and to narrate to them traditions which refuted the teachings of the Mu ‘tazilites and the Jahmiyya and to narrate to them traditions which supported the idea of the physical manifestation of God. Among these jurists and traditionists were Mus’ab Zubayri, Ishaq bin Abi Isra ‘il, Ibrahim bin ‘Abdullah al-Harawi, ‘Abdullah and ‘Uthman the two sons of Muhammad bin Abi Shayba.
He would distribute rewards and positions among them and bestow them with luxuries and gifts. Thus ‘Uthman bin Muhammad bin Abi Shayba would sit in Baghdad , a pulpit would be placed for him and thirty thousand people would gather around to listen to him. And Abu Bakr bin Abi Shayba would sit in the mosque of Rasafa and he used to be even more extreme than his brother ‘Uthman. Thirty thousand men would gather to listen to him.
Thus it becomes clear now why Sayyid ‘Abd al-Azim emphasised the transcendent attributes of God by his statement; “I maintain that Allah, Blessed and Exalted is one.
There is nothing like Him. He is beyond the two limits, the limit of negation and annulment (of attributes) and the limit of anthropomorphism. And that He has neither a body nor a form, nor dimension nor a material core. Rather He is the One who creates bodies and gives forms, the Creator of dimensions and matter.”
He did this because some of the traditionists of his time were spreading ideas of anthropomorphism! It is due to this very same reason that he corrected the Prophetic tradition that was being misquoted and explained its meaning to be the descent of an angel and not the Being of God.