Al-Tisʿīniyya - Ibn Taimiya - (3/980)

Al-TisʿīniyyaIbn Taimiya

For this reason (1) Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah hold that the servant is truly the agent of his own actions, while Allah created the agent as an agent. As He says: “Indeed, man was created anxious (19); when adversity touches him, he is fretful (20); and when good touches him, he is withholding.” (2)

His being capable, willing, and active is no more intrinsic to him than his being tall or short; Allah created him with that attribute. Thus, what Allah states in His Book about the servants doing and producing does not conflict with His having created them upon that very quality. The servant’s acting by virtue of the power Allah has placed within him is like every other thing that Allah created possessed of a potential (3); his ability is a cause for the realization of what lies within its scope, just like the rest of the causes. The existence of causes (4) is undeniable, and it is equally undeniable that Allah created those causes and the effects that arise through them.

Accordingly, whoever says, “The servant’s ability influences the object of power in the same way that other causes influence their effects,” his statement is not rejected. And whoever says, “It exerts no influence—that is, it is neither independent nor creative—just as other causes are not,” his statement is likewise not rejected; for a cause is never an autonomous, self-sufficient source of its effect. Rather, it needs additional causes and the removal of obstacles. Allah is the Creator of the totality of causes and the One who averts every impediment. This is the absolute creation and the absolute causation that belong to Allah alone.

Everything besides Him that is treated as a cause and an agent is only a partial cause: it is neither to be negated altogether nor to be granted what it does not merit—such as being deemed an originator or a creator, or being regarded as the One without partner. He is the Lord and Master of all things.

Yet you have opposed—through the interpretations you advanced concerning the divine attributes, the Qur’an, the Beatific Vision, the questions of names and rulings (5), and predestination—the texts of the Book, the Sunnah, and the way of the early generations. Consequently, when the Muʿtazilah and those like them differ from you in what they interpret of these matters, you have no proof against them; and if you censure

(1) In the margin of s: “Note the doctrine of the Ahl al-Sunnah.” (2) Sura al-Ma‘ārij, verses 19–20. (3) In s and in the printed edition: “huwa kasair” (it is like the others). (4) In the original and in s: “la tunkir” (do not deny). The reading confirmed by the printed edition—and arguably the most appropriate one. (5) In s: “al-ahkām wa al-asmāʼ” (the rulings and the names).

ولهذا (١) كان أهل السنة والجماعة على أن العبد فاعل لأفعاله حقيقة، والله خلق الفاعل فاعلًا، كما قال: {إِنَّ الْإِنْسَانَ خُلِقَ هَلُوعًا (١٩) إِذَا مَسَّهُ الشَّرُّ جَزُوعًا (٢٠) وَإِذَا مَسَّهُ الْخَيْرُ مَنُوعًا} (٢) ، وليس كونه قادرًا مريدًا فاعلًا بألزم له من كونه طويلًا قصيرًا والله خلقه على هذه الصفة، فليس ما ذكره الله في كتابه من أن العباد يفعلون ويصنعون بمناف أن يكون الله خلقهم على هذه الصفة، وكون العبد فاعلًا لما جعل الله فيه من القدرة كسائر (٣) ما خلقه الله بقوة فيه، وقدرته سبب في حصول مقدوره كسائر الأسباب، والأسباب لا ينكر (٤) وجودها ولا ينكر أن الله خلقها وخلق المسبب بها، فمن قال: قدرة العبد مؤثرة في المقدور كتأثير سائر الأسباب في مسبباتها لم ينكر قوله، ومن قال: ليست مؤثرة أي ليست مستقلة وليست مبدعة، كما أن سائر الأسباب ليست كذلك لم ينكر قوله، فإن السبب ليس علة مستقلة بمسببه، بل لا بد له من أسباب أخر، ولا بد من صرف الموانع، والله خالق مجموع الأسباب، وصارف جميع الموانع، وهذا هو الخلق المطلق والتأثير المطلق الذي ليس إلا لله وحده، وكل ما سواه مما يجعل سببًا ومؤثرًا فإنه جزء سبب، فلا ينفي هذا الجزء، ولا يعطي ما لا يستحقه من كونه مبدعًا خالقًا، ومن كونه واحدًا لا شريك له، فهو رب كل شيء ومليكه، وأنتم خالفتم من نصوص الكتاب والسنة وسلف الأمة في مسائل الصفات والقرآن والرؤية ومسائل الأسماء والأحكام (٥) والقدر ما تأولتموه، فالمعتزلة ونحوهم إذا خالفوا من ذلك ما تأولوه لم يكن لكم عليهم حجة، وإذا قدحتم في

(١) في هامش س: قف على مذهب أهل السنة. (٢) سورة المعارج، الآيتان: ١٩ - ٢٠. (٣) في س، ط: هو كسائر. (٤) في الأصل، س: لا تنكر. والمثبت من: ط. ولعله المناسب. (٥) في س: الأحكام والأسماء.