Al-Tisʿīniyya - Ibn Taimiya - (3/942)

Al-TisʿīniyyaIbn Taimiya

the Maghribis (1) who threw in their lot with the Qarmatians and went to extremes (2) in rafḍ (Shiʿite rejectionism) and tajahhum (Jahmism) until they cast off Islam altogether. They imagined that the foundations they themselves had devised were the very roots of the religion—(3) roots without which, they claimed, the religion could never be complete (4). They therefore portrayed the Companions, who in their view had neglected these foundations, as being too busy with jihad to address them. In this they resemble many of their own troops and fighters who have drawn up rules and strategies for kingship and warfare that contain both truth and falsehood; yet we find nothing in that conduct that resembles the conduct of the Companions, and they were unable to criticize them outright.
So they began to say, “The Companions were pre-occupied (5) with knowledge and worship and thus had no time for this policy and regal pomp that we have instituted.” All of this is the talk of someone ignorant of the Companions’ biography, knowledge, religion, and military exploits. Whoever does not know their true condition should look at their legacy, for an effect points to its cause. Did anything of knowledge and religion ever spread from anyone who faces the qiblah, or from any earlier or later nation, comparable to what spread and became manifest through them? Did any nation conquer lands and subdue peoples as the Companions—may Allah be pleased with them—did? On the contrary, their knowledge, deeds, words, and actions were pure truth, both inwardly and outwardly. They were the people whose words most conformed to the speech of Allah and whose deeds most complied with the command of Allah. Whoever deviates from their path fails to perceive what they accomplished; his evil deed is adorned for him until he thinks it good, and he imagines that he has attained beneficial knowledge and righteous works in which they fell short. Such is the condition of the innovators.

For this reason Imām Ahmad said in his treatise—transmitted by ʿAbdūs ibn Mālik al-ʿAṭṭār (6):

(1) S’s margin reads “ka Ibn ʿArabi, Ibn Sabʿin, and others.” (2) The original manuscript reads “waghallatu” (“and they erred”), a scribal error; the corrected reading is supported by S and T. (3) S and T read “alladhi” (“which”). (4) The original and S read “bihi” (“in it”), a reading also attested by T and likely the appropriate one. (5) S and T read “mushtaghilin” (“engaged”). (6) He is Abu Muhammad Abdus ibn Malik al-Attar, one of Imam Ahmad’s companions (may Allah have mercy on him).

المغاربة (١) الذين اتبعوا القرامطة، وغلوا (٢) في الرفض والتجهم حتى انسلخوا من الإسلام، فظنوا أن هذه الأصول التي وضعوها هي أصول الدين، التي (٣) لا يتم الدين إلا بها (٤) ، وجعلوا الصحابة حين تركوا أصول الدين كانوا مشغولين عنه بالجهاد، وهم في ذلك بمنزلة كثير من جندهم ومقاتلتهم الذين قد وضعوا قواعد وسياسة للملك والقتال، فيها الحق والباطل، ولم نجد تلك السيرة تشبه سيرة الصحابة، ولم يمكنهم القدح فيهم، فأخذوا يقولون: كانوا مشغولين (٥) بالعلم والعبادة عن هذه السيرة وأبهة الملك الذي وضعناه. وكل هذا قول من هو جاهل بسيرة الصحابة وعلمهم ودينهم وقتالهم، وإن كان لا يعرف حقيقة أحوالهم، فلينظر إلى آثارهم، فإن الأثر يدل على المؤثر، هل انتشر عن أحد من المنتسبين إلى القبلة، أو عن أحد من الأمم المتقدمين والمتأخرين من العلم والدين ما انتشر وظهر عنهم؟ أم هل فتحت أمة البلاد وقهرت العباد، كما فعلته الصحابة رضوان الله عليهم؟ ولكن كانت علومهم وأعمالهم وأقوالهم وأفعالهم حقًّا باطنًا وظاهرًا، وكانوا أحق الناس بموافقة قولهم لقول الله، وفعلهم لأمر الله، فمن حاد عن سبيلهم لم ير ما فعلوه، فيزين له سوء عمله حتى يراه حسنًا، ويظن أنه حصل له من العلوم النافعة والأعمال الصالحة ما قصروا عنه، وهذه حال أهل البدع. ولهذا قال الإمام أحمد في رسالته -التي رواها عبدوس بن مالك العطار (٦) :. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(١) في هامش س: كابن عربي وابن سبعين وغيرهما. (٢) في الأصل: وغلطوا. وهو تصحيف. والمثبت من: س، ط. (٣) في س، ط: الذي. (٤) في الأصل، س: به. والمثبت من: ط، ولعله المناسب. (٥) في س، ط: مشتغلين. (٦) هو: أبو محمد عبدوس بن مالك العطار، أحد أصحاب الإمام أحمد -رحمه =