Al-Uqud al-Durriyya - Ibn Abd al-Hadi - (الكتاب/298)

—namely, the principle of abandoning figurative interpretation.

The one reporting this to me went on: I said to him, “I have been informed that, at the end of the session (1), when the gathering made the assembly bear witness (2) to their agreement, you declared, ‘Do not write down from me either denial or affirmation.’ Why was that?”

He answered, “For two reasons. First, I was not present when the entire creed was read out in the first session. Second, my own companions had summoned me so they could seek my support; it would not have been proper for me to display my disagreement with them openly, so I remained silent with respect to both parties.

“I ordered more than once that the whole creed be read afresh to this shaykh, but some of the group thought that would take too long (3), insisting that only the passage about which they had a question (4)—the most serious of them being the term ‘reality’—should be read to him. Accordingly, they read that section, and he offered an excellent discussion on the semantic indication of the word.

“I approved and praised him for it, and I said, ‘There is no doubt that Allah is truly Living, truly Knowing (5), truly Hearing, and truly Seeing, and this is unanimously agreed upon among the People of the Sunnah ⦗ق 85⦘.’"

(1) Manuscripts B and Q read: “al-majalis” (the gatherings). (2) Manuscripts K, T, and Tf read: “balaghani … ash-had” (“it has reached me … I bear witness”). (3) Manuscript Tf reads: “tatwil” (elaboration). (4) Manuscript F reads: “wa-annahu yaqraʾ …” (“and that he recites …”); the base manuscript and copies B and Q have “al-mawadih” (the passages), and B and Q also include “allati” (“which”). (5) The material between these two phrases is absent from the base manuscript.

قولُ تركِ التأويل. قال الحاكي لي: فقلتُ له: فبلغني عنك أنَّك قلتَ في آخر المجلس (١)، لما أشهدوا (٢) الجماعةُ على أنفسهم بالموافقة: لا تكتبوا عنِّي نفيًا ولا إثباتًا. فلِمَ ذاك؟ فقال: لوجهين: أحدهما: أنِّي لم أحضر قراءةَ جميع العقيدة في المجلس الأول. والثاني: لأنَّ أصحابي طلبوني لينتصروا بي، فما كان يليق أن أُظْهِرَ مخالفتهم، فسكتُّ عن الطائفتين. وأمرتُ غيرَ مرَّة أن تُعاد قراءة العقيدة جميعها على هذا الشيخ، فرأى بعضُ الجماعة أنَّ ذلك يطولُ (٣)، وأنَّه لا يُقرأ عليه إلا الموضع الذي (٤) لهم عليه سؤال، وأعْظَمُه لفظ «الحقيقة» فقرؤوه عليه. وذكر هو بحثًا حسنًا يتعلَّق بدلالة اللفظ. فحسَّنته ومَدَحْتُه عليه، وقلتُ: لا ريبَ أنَّ الله حيٌّ حقيقة، [عليمٌ حقيقةً] (٥)، سميعٌ حقيقةً، بصيرٌ حقيقةً، وهذا متَّفقٌ عليه بين أهل [ق ٨٥] السنَّة

(١) (ب، ق): «المجالس». (٢) (ك، ط، طف): «بلغني ... أشهد». (٣) (طف): «تطويل». (٤) (ف): «وأنه يقرأ .. »، (الأصل، ب، ق): «المواضع»، (ب، ق): «التي». (٥) ما بينهما ليس في الأصل.