Ashrat al-Saah - al-Wabil - Yusuf al-Wabil - (44)

Ashrat al-Saah - al-WabilYusuf al-Wabil

Thus, Imam Ahmad required only that the report be authentic.

Ibn Taymiyya said, “Once the sunnah has been established, all Muslims agree that it must be followed” (1).

In refuting those who deny the authority of an individual report, Ibn al-Qayyim said, “One example of this is the Companions informing one another. They would hold with certainty whatever one of them related from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. None of them ever said to someone who related a report from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, ‘Your report is an individual report and does not yield certain knowledge unless it is mass-transmitted.’ ...

When one of them related to another a hadith from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, concerning the divine attributes, he would accept it and believe with categorical certainty in the attribute established by it. Thus, he believed that the Lord will be seen; that He speaks; that on the Day of Resurrection He will call His servants with a voice heard equally by those far away and those nearby; that He descends to the lowest heaven every night; that He laughs and rejoices; that He holds the heavens upon one finger of His hand; and that He has a foot. Whoever heard these hadiths from one who related them from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, or from a Companion, believed in what they affirmed merely upon hearing them from a trustworthy and truthful person, without harboring any doubt about them.

They might sometimes seek verification regarding certain hadiths on legal rulings ... Yet none of them ever sought corroboration for the transmission of hadiths concerning the divine attributes. Rather, those among them to whom such reports were related from the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, were especially prompt to accept them, affirm their truth, hold with certainty what they entailed, and establish the divine attributes through them. Anyone with even the slightest familiarity with the sunnah and attentiveness to it knows

(1) Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyya, *Majmū al-Fatāwā* (Collected Fatwas), 19:85, compiled by Abd al-Rahmān ibn Qāsim al-Āsimī al-Najdī; facsimile of the first edition, al-Dār al-Arabiyya Press, Beirut (1398 AH).

فلم يشترط الإمام أحمد إِلَّا صحَّة الخبر. وقال ابن تيمية: "السنة إذا ثبتت؛ فإن المسلمين كلهم متَّفقون على وجوب اتِّباعها" (١). وقال ابن القيم في ردَّه على من ينكر حجِّية خبر الواحد: "ومن هذا إخبار الصّحابة بعضهم بعضًا؛ فإنهم كانوا يجزمون بما يحدِّث به أحدُهم عن رسول الله ﷺ، ولم يقل أحدٌ منهم لمَن حدَّثه عن رسول الله ﷺ: خبرُك خبرُ واحدٍ لا يفيد العلم حتّى يتواتر ... وكان أحدهم إذا روى لغيره حديثًا عن رسول الله ﷺ في الصفات؛ تلقَّاه بالقبول، واعتقد تلك الصِّفَة به على القطع واليقين؛ كما اعتقد رؤية الرب، وتكليمه، ونداءه يوم القيامة لعباده بالصوت الّذي يسمعه البعيد كما يسمعه القريب، ونزوله إلى سماء الدنيا كلّ ليلة، وضحكه، وفرحه، وإمساك السماوات على إصبع من أصابع يده، وإثبات القدم له؛ مَنْ سمع هذه الأحاديث ممَّن حدَّث بها عن رسول الله ﷺ، أو عن صاحب اعتقد ثبوت مقتضاها بمجرَّد سماعها من العدل الصادق، ولم يَرْتَب فيها. حتّى إنهم ربَّما تثبتوا في بعض أحاديث الأحكام ... ولم يطلب احد منهم الاستظهار في رواية أحاديث الصفات ألبتة، بل كانوا أعظم مبادرةً إلى قبولها، وتصديقها، والجزم بمقتضاها، وإثبات الصفات بها؛ مِن المخبر لهم بها عن رسول الله ﷺ، ومَن له أدنى إلمامٌ بالسُّنَّة والتفات إليها؛ يعلم

(١) "مجموع الفتاوى" (١٩/ ٨٥) لشيخ الإسلام ابن تيمية، جمع عبدالرّحمن بن قاسم العاصمي النجدي، تصوير المطبعة الأولى، (١٣٩٨ هـ)، مطابع الدَّار العربيّة، بيروت.