Itiqad Aimmat al-Hadith - Abu Bakr al-Isma’ili - (51)

Itiqad Aimmat al-HadithAbu Bakr al-Isma’ili

and decrees whatever He wills. He is not questioned about what He does, while His creatures are questioned about what they do.

[Affirming Allah’s Most Beautiful Names and Loftiest Attributes]
They also believe that He is invoked by His names and described by His attributes—those with which He has named and described Himself and with which His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, named and described Him. Nothing on earth or in heaven is beyond His power. He is not described as having any deficiency, defect, or impairment, for He, Mighty and Majestic, is exalted above all that.

[Affirming the Attribute of the Two Hands]
He created Adam, peace be upon him, with His Hand, and His two Hands are outstretched; He gives as He wills—without holding any belief as to how His Hands are, since the Book of Allah Most High says nothing about how they are.
Nor do they believe that He has organs, (1) limbs, length, breadth, thickness, thinness, or anything of this kind that has

(1) These expressions are not among those known to Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamā‘ah among the early generations of this community; rather, they are newly invented terms. Expressing the truth in scriptural language is the way of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamā‘ah. The seeker of truth should therefore neither give heed to such expressions nor rely upon them. The imam who authored this work—may Allah have mercy on him—had no need of such terms, for Allah, glorified is He, possesses the attributes of perfection and majesty. In any event, falsehood must be rejected, whoever utters it. The principle followed by the early generations regarding such expressions is that they may neither be denied nor affirmed until their meanings have been examined in detail and the speaker’s intent clarified. The author should have confined himself to negation in general terms. However, his intention in making these negations was to block the deniers of the divine attributes from finding grounds to accuse the people of hadith of likening Allah to His creation. Yet it would have been more beneficial had he—may Allah have mercy on him—refrained from such expressions.

ويحكم ما يريد، لا يسأل عما يفعل، والخلق مسؤولون عما يفعلون. [إثبات أسماء الله الحسنى وصفاته العلا] وأنه مدعو بأسمائه، موصوف بصفاته التي سمى ووصف بها نفسه، وسماه ووصفه بها نبيه ﵊، لا يعجزه شيء في الأرض ولا في السماء، ولا يوصف بنقص أو عيب أو آفة، فإنه ﷿ تعالى عن ذلك. [إثبات صفة اليدين] وخلق آدم ﵇ بيده، ويداه مبسوطتان ينفق كيف شاء، بلا اعتقاد كيف يداه، إذ لم ينطق كتاب الله تعالى فيه بكيف. ولا يعتقد فيه الأعضاء، (١) والجوارح، ولا الطول والعرض، والغلظ، والدقة، ونحو هذا مما يكون

(١) هذه الكلمات ليست من الألفاظ المعروفة عند أهل السنة والجماعة من سلف هذه الأمة، بل هي من الكلمات المبتدعة المخترعة، والتعبير عن الحق بالألفاظ الشرعية هو سبيل أهل السنة والجماعة، فلا ينبغي لطالب الحق الالتفات إلى مثل هذه الألفاظ والتعويل عليها، وما كان أغنى الإمام المصنف ﵀ عن مثل هذه الكلمات فإن الله سبحانه موصوف بصفات الكمال منعوت بنعوت الجلال، وعلى كل حال فالباطل مردود على قائله كائنا من كان، والقاعدة السلفية في مثل هذه الكلمات أنه لا يجوز نفيها ولا إثباتها إلا بعد التفصيل وتبيين مراد قائلها، وكان على المؤلف أن يجمل في النفي غير أنه أراد بهذا النفي أن يسد الطريق على المعطلة لئلا يكون لهم مدخل في رمي أهل الحديث بالتشبيه، لكنه لو امسك ﵀ عن مثل هذه العبارات لكان أجدى.