Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ - Shams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi - (7/312)

Siyar Aʿlām al-NubalāʾShams al‑Din al‑Dhahabi

To proceed: I have understood your question about the points on which the Jahmiyyah have repeatedly erred concerning the attributes of the Mighty Lord—His greatness eludes description and estimation; tongues grow weary of explicating His attributes, and minds fall short of comprehending His reality. When intellects found no passageway to Him, they turned back humbled and exhausted. People have only been commanded to observe and reflect upon what He has created. The question “How?” is asked only of one who did not exist and then came to be; as for the One who undergoes no change, has always been, and has no equal, none knows how He is except He Himself.

The evidence of the intellects’ inability to grasp His attribute lies in their failure to grasp the attribute of the smallest of His creatures—so minute that the eye scarcely perceives it, appearing and disappearing, possessing no discernible sight or hearing. Recognize, then, the sufficiency of being spared the burden of describing what the Lord has not described of Himself, by your incapacity to know the measure of what He has described. As for anyone who, out of excessive speculation and self-imposed burden, denies what the Lord has affirmed of Himself, the devils have led him astray upon the earth, bewildered; Satan continues to whisper to him until he rejects the Almighty’s words: “Faces on that Day will be radiant, looking toward their Lord” (Q 75:22–23), claiming, “He will not be seen on the Day of Resurrection….”

He then set forth a lengthy discourse affirming the attributes, conveying them as they have come, and refraining from further intrusion.

It is related that he once examined a treatise in which some authors negated the attributes, whereupon he declared, “This discourse is demolition without construction and an attribution devoid of meaning.”

ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Majishun the jurist reported that al-Mahdi rewarded his father with ten thousand dinars.

Ahmad ibn Kamil said: He (ʿAbd al-ʿAziz) left behind several authored works, which Ibn Wahb transmitted from him.

The proponent from whom the doctrine of ta‘til (negating the divine attributes) first spread in Islam was al-Ja‘d b. Dirham; Jahm b. Safwan adopted it from him, propagated it, and therefore the doctrine was ascribed to him. Jahm was executed in 128 AH, alongside al-Harith b. Surayj, during their revolt against the Umayyads (see: al-Tabari, 7/220, 221, 236, 237; al-Qasimi, Tarikh al-Jahmiyya wa-l-Mu‘tazila, p. 10 ff.). The early Muslims (al-salaf) called anyone who denied the divine attributes, claimed the Quran to be created, and denied that God will be seen in the Hereafter a “Jahmi.” Imam Ahmad—according to the report transmitted by Ibn Jarir—held that whoever says, “My utterance of the Quran is created,” is a Jahmi, while whoever says, “It is uncreated,” is an innovator.

أَمَّا بَعْدُ ... ، فَقَدْ فَهِمتُ مَا سَأَلْتَ عَنْهُ، فِيْمَا تَتَابَعتِ الجَهْمِيَّةُ فِي صِفَةِ الرَّبِ العَظِيْمِ، الَّذِي فَاتَتْ عَظَمَتُهُ الوَصفَ وَالتَّقدِيرَ، وَكَلَّتِ الأَلسُنُ عَنْ تَفْسِيْرِ صِفَتِهِ، وَانْحَسَرتِ العُقُوْلُ دُوْنَ مَعْرِفَةِ قَدْرِهِ، فَلَمَّا تَجدِ العُقُوْلُ مَسَاغاً، فَرَجَعتُ خَاسِئَةً حَسِيْرَةً، وَإِنَّمَا أُمِرُوا بِالنَّظَرِ وَالتَّفَكُّرِ فِيْمَا خَلَقَ، وَإِنَّمَا يُقَالُ: كَيْفَ؟ لِمَنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ مَرَّةً ثُمَّ كَانَ، أَمَّا مَنْ لاَ يَحُولُ وَلَمْ يَزَلْ، وَلَيْسَ لَهُ مِثْلٌ، فَإِنَّهُ لاَ يَعْلَمُ كَيْفَ هُوَ، إِلاَّ هُوَ. وَالدَّلِيْلُ عَلَى عَجزِ العُقُوْلِ عَنْ تَحقِيْقِ صِفَتِهِ: عَجزُهَا عَنْ تَحقِيْقِ صِفَةِ أَصْغَرِ خَلْقِهِ، لاَ يَكَادُ يَرَاهُ صِغَراً، يَحُوْلُ وَيزُولُ، وَلاَ يُرَى لَهُ بَصَرٌ وَلاَ سَمْعٌ، فَاعْرِفْ غِنَاكَ عَنْ تَكلِيْفِ صِفَةِ مَا لَمْ يَصِفِ الرَّبُّ مِنْ نَفْسِهِ، بِعَجْزِكَ عَنْ مَعْرِفَةِ قَدرِ مَا وَصَفَ مِنْهَا، فَأَمَّا مَنْ جَحَدَ مَا وَصفَ الرَّبُّ مِنْ نَفْسِهِ تَعَمُّقاً وَتَكلِيْفاً، فَقدِ اسْتَهْوَتْهُ الشَّيَاطِيْنُ فِي الأَرْضِ حَيْرَانَ، وَلَمْ يَزَلْ يُمْلِي لَهُ الشَّيْطَانُ، حَتَّى جَحَدَ قَوْلَه تَعَالَى: ﴿وُجُوْهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَاضِرَةٌ، إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ﴾ [القِيَامَةُ: ٢٢، ٢٣] ، فَقَالَ: لاَ يُرَى يَوْمَ القِيَامَةِ ... ، وَذَكَرَ فَصلاً طَوِيْلاً فِي إِقرَارِ الصِّفَاتِ وَإِمْرَارِهَا، وَتَرْكِ التَّعَرُّضِ لَهَا. وَقِيْلَ: إِنَّهُ نَظَرَ مَرَّةً فِي شَيْءٍ مِنْ سَلْبِ الصِّفَاتِ لِبَعْضِهِم، فَقَالَ: هَذَا الكَلاَمُ هَدْمٌ بِلاَ بِنَاءٍ، وَصِفَةٌ بِلاَ مَعْنَىً. وَذَكَرَ عَبْدُ المَلِكِ بنُ المَاجَشُوْنِ الفَقِيْهُ: أَنَّ المَهْدِيَّ أَجَازَ أَبَاهُ بِعَشْرَةِ آلاَفِ دِيْنَارٍ. وَقَالَ أَحْمَدُ بنُ كَامِلٍ: لَهُ كُتُبٌ مُصَنَّفَةٌ، رَوَاهَا عَنْهُ: ابْنُ وَهْبٍ.

= عنه مقالة التعطيل في الإسلام وهو الجعد بن درهم، وأخذها عنه الجهم بن صفوان، وأظهرها فنسبت إليه، وقد قتل سنة (١٢٨ هـ) ، مع الحارث بن سريج في حربه ضد بني أمية. (انظر: الطبري: ٧ / ٢٢٠، ٢٢١، ٢٣٦، ٢٣٧، وتاريخ الجهمية والمعتزلة: ١٠، وما بعدها، للقاسمي) . والسلف كانوا يسمون كل من نفى الصفات وقال: إن القرآن مخلوق، وإن الله لا يرى في الآخرة جهميا. والامام أحمد يرى - فيما يحكيه ابن جرير عنه - أن من قال: لفظي بالقرآن مخلوق، فهو جهمي، ومن قال: غير مخلوق، فهو مبتدع.