Al-Jawāb as-Sahīh li-man baddala dīn al-Masīh - Ibn Taimiya - (4/81)

the Jews. Many of them, or most of them, assert that God’s Speech is uncreated, and they censure anyone who says it is a creature.

Another authority among them, Abū al-Ḥasan ibn al-Zāghūnī, reports on their behalf a view that coincides with this in some respects but not in others. He relates that:

All the Christian sects agree that God is not a body. They likewise agree that He is one Essence comprising three hypostases, and that each hypostasis is a particular essence encompassed by the universal Essence. Thereafter they differed.

• Some maintained that the hypostases are distinct as hypostases yet identical in essence.
• Others contended that they do not differ in hypostaticity, but are distinct from one another.
• A third group claimed that each hypostasis is neither the other nor other than it—hence they are neither mutually exclusive nor genuinely different. They added that the Essence is not something apart from them, except for what is attributed to a faction of the Melkites.

That faction declared: the hypostases are the Essence, yet the Essence is other than the hypostases. They held that the Essence is the Father, whereas the hypostases are Life—namely the Holy Spirit—together with Power and Knowledge. They further asserted that God united with one of the hypostases, the Son, in Jesus son of Mary, so that at the moment of union he became the Messiah, combining divinity and humanity—conceived, born, reared, slain, crucified, and buried.

الْيَهُودِ، وَكَثِيرٌ مِنْهُمْ أَوْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ يَقُولُونَ: إِنَّ كَلَامَ اللَّهِ غَيْرُ مَخْلُوقٍ، وَيُنْكِرُونَ عَلَى مَنْ يَقُولُ إِنَّهُ مَخْلُوقٌ. وَنَقَلَتْ طَائِفَةٌ أُخْرَى مِنْهُمْ أَبُو الْحَسَنِ بْنُ الزَّاغُونِيِّ عَنْهُمْ مَا يُوَافِقُ هَذَا مِنْ وَجْهٍ دُونَ وَجْهٍ، فَقَالُوا: اتَّفَقَتْ طَوَائِفُ النَّصَارَى عَلَى أَنَّ اللَّهَ لَيْسَ بِجِسْمٍ، وَاتَّفَقُوا عَلَى أَنَّهُ جَوْهَرٌ وَاحِدٌ ثَلَاثَةُ أَقَانِيمَ، وَأَنْ كُلَّ وَاحِدٌ مِنَ الْأَقَانِيمِ جَوْهَرٌ خَاصٌّ يَجْمَعُهَا الْجَوْهَرُ الْعَامُّ، ثُمَّ اخْتَلَفُوا، فَقَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ: إِنَّ الْأَقَانِيمَ مُخْتَلِفَةٌ فِي الْأُقْنُومِيَّةِ، مُتَّفِقَةٌ فِي الْجَوْهَرِيَّةِ. وَقَالَ آخَرُونَ: لَيْسَتْ مُخْتَلِفَةً فِي الْأُقْنُومِيَّةِ، بَلْ مُتَغَايِرَةً، وَقَالَ فَرِيقٌ مِنْهُمْ: إِنَّ كُلَّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهَا لَا هُوَ الْآخَرُ، وَلَا هُوَ غَيْرُهُ، وَلَيْسَتْ مُتَغَايِرَةً وَلَا مُخْتَلِفَةً، وَزَعَمُوا أَنَّ الْجَوْهَرَ لَيْسَ هُوَ غَيْرَهَا إِلَّا مَا ذُكِرَ عَنْ طَائِفَةٍ مِنَ الْمَلِكَانِيَّةِ، فَإِنَّهُمْ قَالُوا: إِنَّ الْأَقَانِيمَ هِيَ الْجَوْهَرُ غَيْرُ الْأَقَانِيمِ، وَزَعَمُوا أَنَّ الْجَوْهَرَ هُوَ الْأَبُ، وَالْأَقَانِيمُ الْحَيَاةُ، وَهِيَ رُوحُ الْقُدُسِ، وَالْقُدْرَةُ، وَالْعِلْمُ، وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ اتَّحَدَ بِأَحَدِ الْأَقَانِيمِ الَّذِي هُوَ الِابْنُ بِعِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ، وَكَانَ مَسِيحًا عِنْدَ الِاتِّحَادِ، لَاهُوتًا وَنَاسُوتًا، حُمِلَ، وَوُلِدَ، وَنَشَأَ، وَقُتِلَ، وَصُلِبَ، وَدُفِنَ.