Taqrib al-Tadmuriyyah - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (52)

For that very reason, were a report to come from an ignorant person, a liar, an inarticulate speaker, or someone of malign intent, it would not be accepted, for one or more of the requirements for accepting information would be missing.

Since every prerequisite for the sound acceptance of information is present in full and perfect form in the report of Allah and His Messenger, believing it and submitting to it is obligatory, whether the report involves negation or affirmation. No excuse remains for anyone who would reject it, distort it, or cast doubt upon its purport—especially when the subject is the names and attributes of Allah, Exalted is He.

• In the same way, whatever has been established by the unanimous agreement of the early generations of this ummah and its leading scholars must also be accepted.

The bulk of this topic—“the chapter of the divine names and attributes”—is explicitly stated in the Quran and the Sunnah and unanimously agreed upon by the earliest Muslims.

• As for those matters about which the later generations disputed, matters that are found neither in the Book nor in the Sunnah and that were unknown to the early community, no one is under obligation—indeed, no one is even permitted—to affirm or deny their wording, for revelation contains no such wording. Likewise, one may neither accept nor reject the meaning until he first understands what is meant by it. If the intended meaning is correct, it must be accepted; if it is false, it must be rejected.

The following examples will clarify this principle.

Example One: “Direction” (al-jihat). Suppose someone says, “Allah is in a direction,” or asks, “Does Allah have a direction?” We reply: The term “direction” is neither affirmed nor denied in the Quran or the Sunnah. Nowhere do the texts say that He is in a direction or has a direction, nor do they say that He is not in a direction or does not have a direction. Instead, the texts employ expressions that make such terminology unnecessary: His exaltedness, His being above, His rising over the Throne, things ascending to Him, and descending from Him.

The later scholars vacillated between affirming and denying this term.

Applying our principle, we say:

ولهذا لو صدر الخبر عن جاهل أو كاذب، أو عيي، أو سيئ قصد لم يكن مقبولاً لفقد مقومات القبول أو أحدها. فإذا كانت مقومات قبول الخبر تامة على أكمل وجه في خبر الله ورسوله وجب الإيمان به وقبوله سواء كان نفياً أم إثباتاً، ولم يبق عذر لمعتذر في رده، أو تحريفه، أو الشك في مدلوله، لاسيما في أسماء الله تعالى وصفاته. * وكذلك ما ثبت باتفاق سلف الأمة وأئمتها وجب قبوله. وعامة هذا الباب "باب الأسماء والصفات" منصوص عليه في الكتاب والسنة متفق عليه بين سلف الأمة. * وأما ما تنازع فيه المتأخرون مما ليس في الكتاب والسنة ولا عند سلف الأمة فليس على أحد بل وليس لأحد أن يثبت لفظه أو ينفيه لعدم ورود السمع به، وليس له أن يقبل معناه أو يرده حتى يعلم المراد منه. فإن كان حقاً وجب قبوله، وإن كان باطلاً وجب رده. ولذلك أمثلة منها: المثال الأول: الجهة: أي لو قال قائل: إن الله في جهة، أو هل لله جهة؟ فيقال له: لفظ "الجهة" ليس في الكتاب والسنة إثباته ولا نفيه، فليس فيهما أنه في جهة، أو له جهة، ولا أنه ليس في جهة، أو ليس له جهة، وفي النصوص ما يغني عنه كالعلو، والفوقية، والاستواء على العرش، وصعود الأشياء إليه ونزولها منه. وقد اضطرب المتأخرون في إثباته ونفيه. فإذا أجريناه على القاعدة قلنا: