Taqrib al-Tadmuriyyah - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (120)

Taqrib al-TadmuriyyahIbn al-'Uthaymin

and the leaders among them went off, saying, “Go on your way and stay steadfast to your gods; this is a matter that has been plotted.” (38:4–6)

He also said about His enemies: “If they get the better of you, they will be your foes, stretching toward you their hands and their tongues with evil, and they would love for you to disbelieve.” (60:2)

The crucial point is that this very tawḥīd—whose rank is so great—has been overlooked by most of the scholastic theologians who discuss the kinds of tawḥīd, and that neglect is one aspect of their error concerning the very meaning of tawḥīd.

Second aspect: their assertion, “Allah is one in His essence; He has no division …” and the like, is ambiguous.

– If by it they mean that Allah does not split up, break apart, or consist of composite parts, then that is true, for Allah is the One, the Ever-Besought: He neither begets nor is begotten, and there is none comparable to Him.

– But if, in addition, they intend by it to deny what He has affirmed for Himself—His exaltedness, His rising over the Throne, His Face, His Hands, and so on—and this is in fact what they mean, then it is false. Allah has confirmed for Himself these and other attributes of perfection that befit Him. Tawḥīd with regard to them is to affirm them for Him in the manner appropriate to Him, without likening Him to His creation, not to negate them through distortion or denial.

Third aspect: their statement, “He is one in His attributes; nothing resembles Him,” is likewise ambiguous.

If they mean thereby to affirm Allah’s attributes in the way befitting Him, with no one matching Him in what is unique to Him, then that is correct and is the creed of the early generations. Yet most of the mutakallimūn do not intend this.

If, however, they mean only to deny that any created being resembles Him in every respect, this is an empty truism, no more useful than saying, “The sky is above us and the earth beneath us,” for the notion that the Creator could be identical to the creation in every respect is already known to be false—indeed, necessarily impossible—

آلِهَتِكُمْ إِنَّ هَذَا لَشَيْءٌ يُرَادُ﴾ [ص: ٤ - ٦] . وقال في أعدائه: ﴿إِنْ يَثْقَفُوكُمْ يَكُونُوا لَكُمْ أَعْدَاءً وَيَبْسُطُوا إِلَيْكُمْ أَيْدِيَهُمْ وَأَلْسِنَتَهُمْ بِالسُّوءِ وَوَدُّوا لَوْ تَكْفُرُونَ﴾ [الممتحنة: ٢] . والمهم أن هذا التوحيد الذي هذا شأنه قد أغفله عامة المتكلمين الذين يتكلمون في أنواع التوحيد، وهو أحد وجوه غلطهم في مسمى التوحيد. الوجه الثاني: قولهم: "إن الله واحد في ذاته لا قسيم له ... " الخ فيه إجمال: - فإن أرادوا به أن الله تعال لا يتجزأ ولا يتفرق ولا يكون مركباً من أجزاء فهذا حق، فإن الله تعالى أحد صمد، لم يلد ولم يكن له كفواً أحد. - وإن أرادوا به مع ذلك نفي ما وصف به نفسه كعلوه واستوائه على عرشه، ووجهه، ويديه ونحو ذلك – وهذا مرادهم – فهو باطل، لأن الله تعالى قد أثبت لنفسه من صفات الكمال من هذا وغيره ما هو أهل له. وتوحيده فيها إثباتها له على الوجه اللائق به بدون تمثيل لا أن تنفى عنه بنوع من التحريف والتعطيل. الوجه الثالث: قولهم: "واحد في صفاته لا شبيه له" فيه إجمال: فإن أرادوا به إثبات صفات الله تعالى على الوجه اللائق به من غير أن يماثله أحد فيما يختص به فهذا حق، وهو مذهب السلف لكن عامة المتكلمين لا يريدون ذلك. وإن أرادوا به نفي أن يكون شيء من المخلوقات مماثلاً له من كل وجه، لهذا لغو لا حاجة إليه فهو كقول القائل: السماء فوقنا والأرض تحتنا، لأن مماثلة الخالق للمخلوق من كل وجه معلوم الانتفاء، - بل الامتناع - بضرورة