Taqrib al-Tadmuriyyah - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (23)

Taqrib al-TadmuriyyahIbn al-'Uthaymin

and they vary in keeping with the one to whom they are attributed.

Second: To claim likeness between the Creator and the creature entails diminishing the Creator—exalted is He—for likening the Perfect to what is deficient necessarily renders Him deficient.

Third: To maintain that the Creator resembles the creature nullifies true servitude, for no rational person yields in utter reverence to anyone unless that being is higher than himself.

As for sensory perception: among created things we observe instances where a single word is applied to two beings that share a name and an attribute only verbally while differing in reality. An elephant has a body and strength, and a mosquito has a body and strength, yet the disparity between their two bodies and their two strengths is plain. If such divergence is admissible among creatures, it is even more so between Creator and creature. Indeed, divergence between Creator and creature is obligatory, while resemblance is absolutely impossible.

Regarding their statement, “Allah has addressed us in terms we can comprehend,” this is true; Allah the Exalted says, “We have made it an Arabic Quran so that you may understand” (43:3); He says, “A blessed Book We have sent down to you so that they may ponder its verses and so that people of insight may be reminded” (38:29); and He says, “We have never sent a messenger except in the language of his people, so that he might make things clear to them” (14:4). Had Allah not intended His servants to grasp and understand what the messengers brought, it would have made no difference whether a messenger spoke the language of his people or some other tongue, and the clarifying proof by which the argument is established against creation would not have been achieved.

As for their claim, “When He speaks to us about the unseen, we must interpret it according to what is known in the visible world,” the answer has two facets:

First: Whatever Allah reports about Himself He does so as something attributed to His sanctified Self; thus it befits Him and is not analogous to His creatures, and no one can understand from it

وتتميز بحسب ما تضاف إليه. الثاني: أن القول بالمماثلة بين الخالق والمخلوق يستلزم نقص الخالق سبحانه؛ لأن تمثيل الكامل بالناقص يجعله ناقصاً. الثالث: أن القول بمماثلة الخالق للمخلوق يقتضي بطلان العبودية الحق؛ لأنه لا يخضع عاقل لأحد وبذل له على وجه التعظيم المطلق إلا أن يكون أعلى منه. - وأما الحس: فإننا نشاهد في المخلوقات ما تشترك أسماؤه وصفاته في اللفظ وتتباين في الحقيقة، فللفيل جسم وقوة، وللبعوضة جسم وقوة، والتباين بين جسميهما وقوتيهما معلوم، فإذا جاز هذا التباين بين المخلوقات كان جوازه بين الخالق والمخلوق من باب أولى، بل التباين بين الخالق والمخلوق واجب، والتماثل ممتنع غاية الامتناع. - وأما قولهم: "إن الله تعالى خاطبنا بما نعقل ونفهم" فصحيح؛ لقوله تعالى: ﴿إِنَّا جَعَلْنَاهُ قُرْآناً عَرَبِيّاً لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ﴾ [الزخرف: ٣] . وقوله: ﴿كِتَابٌ أَنْزَلْنَاهُ إِلَيْكَ مُبَارَكٌ لِيَدَّبَّرُوا آيَاتِهِ وَلِيَتَذَكَّرَ أُولُو الْأَلْبَابِ﴾ [صّ:٢٩] . وقوله: ﴿وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِنْ رَسُولٍ إِلَّا بِلِسَانِ قَوْمِهِ لِيُبَيِّنَ لَهُم﴾ [إبراهيم: ٤] . ولوا أن الله أراد من عباده عقل وفهم ما جاءت به الرسل لكان لسان قومه ولسان غيرهم سواء، ولما حصل البيان الذي تقوم به الحجة على الخلق. - وأما قولهم: "إذا خاطبنا عن الغائب بشيء وجب حمله على المعلوم في الشاهد" فجوابه من وجهين: أحدهما: أن ما أخبر الله به عن نفسه إنما أخبر به مضافاً إلى نفسه المقدسة، فيكون لائقاً به لا مماثلاً لمخلوقاته، ولا يمكن لأحد أن يفهم منه