HADITH OF DESCENT (HADITHUN-NUZOOl):
As for the other hadith, it’s an authentic hadith narrated by al-Bukhariy in his sahih that our messenger said ﷺ:
ينزل ربّنا (أي يُنزِل ملائكة بأمره) كل ليلة إلى السماء الدنيا في النصف الأخير
“Yanzilu (or Yunzilu) Rabuna Kulla Laylatin ilas-Sama’id-Duniya fin-Nisfil-‘Akhir” which means: “an Angel descends by the order of Allah to the lower sky and says: Your Lord says: “Is there any one who is making supplication so that I will answer his supplication? Is there anyone who is asking me for forgiveness so that I will forgive him? Is there any one who is asking for things so that I will give him? Until fajr is up”.
This hadith the scholars of Ash^aris and Maturidis said, such as Hafidh Ibn Hajar who is the most famous scholar who interpreted Sahih Bukhariy, he said: “The scholars of Islam said this hadith cannot be taken literally that Allah descends, rather either we say as the Salaf said, such as Imam Malik bin Anas when he was asked about this hadith he said: نزول رحمة لا نزول نُقلة
Which means: “A descent of mercy and not a physical descent” or we say as some of the Salaf said: “the Angels of Mercy descend by the order of Allah to the lower sky and will say: Your Lord says: “Is there any one who is making supplication so that I will answer his supplication? Is there anyone who is asking me for forgiveness so that I will forgive him? Is there any one who is asking for things so that I will give him? Until fajr is up”. What supports this tafseer is another hadith narrated by an-Nasa’iy that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah orders an angel in the last third of the night to call out: Your Lord says: Is there anyone supplicating so his supplication would be answered..”. al-Hafidh al-^Iraqiy said: “the best interpretation for a narration is by another narration”. The hadith is interpreted by another Hadith, and the Ayah by another Ayah.
Ibn Hajar reported from Imam Abu Bakr ibnul-^Aarabiy from Ibn Forak the known Ash^ariy who said: “Some of our sheikhs narrated this hadith (Yanzilu) by having a dammah on the ya’ (Yunzilu) and by this the meaning is clear (that Allah orders an angel to descend). As for the one that doesn’t accept this, which is what Ahlus-Sunnah said, and chooses to claim that Allah resides above and that He physically descends every night to the first sky.. say to him: The nights change based on the different countries. The night in Algeria is a day in another country. So if you take this hadith literally as you claim, then you rendered Allah descending to the sky and ascending to the throne, descending to the sky and ascending to the throne again at every moment in the day. And this is not said by anyone with a sound mind. So you must follow what the scholars said.
موقع لطائف التنبيهات 