Al-Fawāʾid - Ibn al-Qayyim - (الكتاب/7)

Al-FawāʾidIbn al-Qayyim

agreed upon by the messengers and attested to by the Quran, the Sunnah, and all of God’s other scriptures. In truth, such a view is nothing but a denial of the Resurrection and an alignment with the stance of those earlier deniers. They never disputed God’s ability to fashion new bodies, different from these, in order to punish or reward them—how could they, when before their very eyes the human race is being created continually, generation after generation? At every moment God, exalted is He, brings into being fresh bodies and souls, distinct from the ones that have perished. So why should they marvel at something they witness with their own eyes?

What truly astonished them was the prospect of returning in their very own persons after time and decay had torn them apart and they had become mere bones and dust. They found it incredible that they themselves would be raised for requital, and so they said, “When we are dead and have become dust and bones, shall we indeed be resurrected?” (37:16), and they exclaimed, “That is a far-fetched return” (50:3).

If the recompense were to fall upon bodies other than these, it would no longer be a “resurrection” or a “return”; it would be a completely new beginning. Nor would His statement, “We certainly know what the earth diminishes of them” (50:4), have much force, for the Almighty uttered these words in reply to an implicit objection: how can the scattered elements that have mingled with the earth and been transformed into its basic components ever be separated out again? He therefore declared that He knows precisely what the earth consumes of their flesh, bones, and hair, and that just as He is fully aware of those particles, He is equally capable of retrieving them, gathering them after their dispersion, and re-constituting them as a new creation.

Thus—glory be to Him—He establishes the Resurrection by citing the perfection of His knowledge, the perfection of His power, and the perfection of His wisdom; for all the doubts raised by its deniers can be reduced to three categories. The first is their claim that the particles of their bodies have become so thoroughly intermixed with the earth that no (1) individual can any longer be distinguished from another.

(1) The original manuscript reads "ma'aha" ("with it").

عليه الرسلُ ودلَّ عليه القرآنُ والسنةُ وسائرُ كتب الله تعالى. وهذا في الحقيقة إنكارٌ للمعاد، وموافقةٌ لقول من أنكره من المكذِّبين؛ فإنهم لم ينكروا قدرة الله على خلق أجسامٍ أُخَرَ غير هذه الأجسام يعذِّبها وينعِّمُها؛ كيف وهم يشهدون النوعَ الإنسانيَّ يُخْلَقُ شيئًا بعد شيءٍ؛ فكلَّ وقتٍ يَخْلُقُ الله سبحانه أجسامًا وأرواحًا غيرَ الأجسامِ التي فَنِيَتْ؛ فكيف يتعجَّبون من شيءٍ يُشاهدونَه عِيانًا؟! وإنما تعجَّبوا من عَوْدِهم بأعيانِهِم بعد أن مَزَّقَهُمُ البِلَى وصاروا عظامًا ورُفاتًا، فتعجَّبوا أن يكونوا هم بأعيانهم مبعوثينَ للجزاء، ولهذا قالوا: ﴿أَإِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا وَعِظَامًا أَإِنَّا لَمَبْعُوثُونَ (١٦)﴾ [الصافات: ١٦]، وقالوا: ﴿ذَلِكَ رَجْعٌ بَعِيدٌ (٣)﴾ [ق: ٣]. ولو كان الجزاءُ إنما هو لأجسامٍ غير هذه؛ لم يكن ذلكِ بعثًا ولا رجعًا، بل يكونُ ابتداءً، ولم يكن لقولِهِ: ﴿قَدْ عَلِمْنَا مَا تَنْقُصُ الْأَرْضُ مِنْهُمْ﴾ [ق: ٤] كبيرُ معنًى؛ فإنه سبحانه جعل هذا جوابًا لسؤالٍ مقدَّرٍ، وهو أنه يُميِّزُ تلك الأجزاء التي اختلطت بالأرض واستحالت إلى العناصر بحيث لا تتميَّزُ، فأخبر سبحانه أنه قد علم ما تَنْقُصُهُ الأرضُ من لُحومهم وعِظامهم وأشعارهم، وأنَّه كما هو عالمٌ بتلك الأجزاء؛ فهو قادرٌ على تَحْصيلها وجَمْعِها بعد تفرُّقِها وتأليفِها خلقًا جديدًا. وهو سبحانَه يُقرِّرُ المعادَ بذِكْرِ كمالِ علمِهِ وكمالِ قُدرتِهِ وكمالِ حكمتِهِ؛ فإنَّ شُبَه المُنكِرين له كلَّها تعودُ إلى ثلاثةِ أنواع: أحدها: اختلاطُ أجزائِهِم بأجزاءِ الأرض على وجهٍ لا يتميَّزُ ولا يحصُلُ معه (١) تميُّزُ شخصٍ عن شخصٍ!

(١) في الأصل: "معها".