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|f Al-Sharif Al-Radi is considered to be one of the outstanding personalities of knowledge during his era which was distinguished by a knowledge driven revival and was full of great giants in terms of thinkers and scholars in the various areas of knowledge, especially those related to humanity and the religion. He was a personality that was an encyclopedia in his areas of knowledge. In addition to being one of the great poets he also had important accomplishments if the knowledge areas of Fiqh (jurisprudence), Hadeeth, Tafsir, speech and the arts of the Arabic language and its rhetorical eloquence. His two books “The metaphorical elements of the Quran” and “The Prophetic metaphorical elements” were of the distinguishing signs of his knowledge-based accomplishment. That is because, in these two books, he dealt with the process of uncovering the literal meanings and semantics of the Quranic text and Prophetic text in respect to them comprising the foundations of the creed and the system of legislation. The research has stopped to examine an issue, the position, importance and relevance of which is found within these two books. That is the issue of the interpretation of the “Khabariyah” (informative) attributes, which represents one of the fundamental requirements for the study of the divine attributes. It is clearly present within the principle of “Tawheed” (The Oneness of God) which represents the creedal origin agreed upon by all Muslims, indeed all monotheists. Perhaps, it is possible to touch upon its magnitude, when we discover that it has transformed over a long period of time and among many approaches, into the standard or yardstick for belief or disbelief, according to the position of dealing with the apparent meanings of the texts and establishing the Khabariyah (informative) attributes belonging to Allah the Almighty. The main positions and approaches numbered four and were as follows:\n1 - Taking the apparent indicative meaning of the texts and affirming the Khabariyah attributes to Allah the Almighty. \n2 - Taking the apparent indicative meanings and affirming the Khabariyah attributes but without explaining the manner of “how” related to these attributes.\n3 - Stopping and leaving the matter to Allah, the Highest, and not delving into explaining the intended meaning by these attributes. \n4 - Interpretation and carrying the meaning from the apparent indicative meaning for the worded expressions contained in these texts to the true meaning intended from them according to rational principles and under the measuring yardstick of the religious Quranic and Prophetic text.\nThis fourth approach is what was pursued by Al-Sharif Al-Radi and which he committed to, based upon the principle of the absolute non-association to Allah, the Highest, from any resemblance to anything from His creation or for any deficiency or addition or embodiment to be attributed to Him. As such, we found in his two books that he rules that all of the texts which have come attributing these informative (Khabariyah) attributes to Allah, the Highest, are metaphorical utilizations, metaphors and analogies which cannot possible be taken upon their literal meanings and must be interpreted. This is the direction he took, seeking assistance with the tools of the text, the intellect (‘Aql), the Arabic language, its arts and what they stored in terms of expressional potencies, to present to us, as a result, an outstanding presentation in relation to dealing with the religious text, in terms of interpretation, explanation and analysis, to arrive at what was intended in truth from it. In addition, the texts containing the informative (Khabariyah) attributes were distributed within the two books, over three main classifications, which the research addressed under three topics, as follows:\n1 - The texts suggesting direction like encompassment, proximity, association of company, placing and elevation etc. \n2 - The texts suggesting composition and embodiment like the eye, hand, leg, side, spirit and soul.\n3 - The texts suggesting deficiency, change or resemblance like movement, transition, coming, love, hate, plotting, astonishment and derision etc. \nThe researcher strove to designate a fourth topic dealing with the position of Al-Sharif Al-Radi in relation to the visual sight of the Creator, the Most High. This division of the subject is connected to the breadth of the research in respect to it and due to it being related to the three previous classifications mentioned together.\nThe research revealed a host of results, the most significant of which were:\n1 - The seriousness and sensitivity of the subject of the Khabariyah (informative) attributes. \n2 - The multiplicity of directions and positions in relation to the subject and Al-Sharif Al-Radi adopting the interpretational approach.\n3 - Al-Sharif Al-Radi adopting the view of the absolute Tanzeeh (free and non-association) of the Creator, the Most High, as a yardstick and fundamental determiner for the manner of his treatment of these texts.\n4 - Al-Sharif interpreted all of the texts which he selected as models for his study within his two books according to the standards of the religious text, the mind and the language. \n5 - The researcher disclosed the scholastic propensity of Al-Sharif Al-Radi, in the case where he did not suffice himself with linguistic and rhetorical eloquence analysis for the text, but rather set yardsticks and principles determining the comprehension process. \n6 - Al-Sharif enjoyed an elevated demonstrative style reflected in his expressional style and his analysis of the texts. This made his study far removed of dryness in expression and the logical approach of the Mutakallimeen.\n7 - Through that, Al-Radi designed for himself a distinct and unique scholastic approach, which occupied an important space within the scholastic field.\nIn conclusion, I hope to have fulfilled the task of highlighting this bright aspect of the personality of this research, the two important books and the unique approaches of Al-Sharif Al-Radi. Verily He (Allah) is the All Hearer, the Responder.\nThis abstract translated by Dar AlMandumah Inc 2018.
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