Darʾ Taʿâroud al-ʿAql wa-n-Naql - Ibn Taimiya - (1/105)

Darʾ Taʿâroud al-ʿAql wa-n-NaqlIbn Taimiya

And in that case, you do not need to base your rejection of the scriptural evidence that contradicts your views on this rule you have invented—a rule that gives human opinions precedence over what Allah revealed and sent His messengers with. You have opened the door for every group, indeed every individual, to give precedence to their own rational judgments over what is authentically transmitted from Allah and His Messenger; indeed, the one conveying the report knows it. For this reason, none of the prominent members of these groups openly professed this rule. Some merely concealed it, and it was only made public when the discourse of the heretics, the enemies of the messengers, emerged.

[The Second]

It may be said:

Anyone with even the slightest knowledge of what the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, brought knows with certainty that he did not call people through this method—the argument from accidents—nor did he negate the divine attributes at all, either explicitly or through the apparent meaning of his words. Nor did he say anything conveying such a negation, either explicitly or through its apparent meaning. He did not state that the Creator is neither above the world nor separate from it, or that He is neither inside the world nor outside it. Nor did he say anything conveying this, either explicitly or through its apparent meaning. Indeed, he did not even negate “body” in its technical sense, or use synonymous expressions to do so.

Nor did he state, either explicitly or through the apparent meaning of his words, that temporal events cannot continue endlessly into the past and future, or into the past. Nor did he state that acting became possible for the Lord after it had not been possible, or that speaking became possible for Him after it had not been possible. Nor did he state that His speech, pleasure, anger, love, hatred, and similar attributes are created things separate from Him. He stated none of these claims or the like that these people make, either explicitly or through the apparent meaning of his words.

وحينئذ فلا تحتاجون أن تبنوا دفع السمعيات المخالفة لكم علي هذا القانون الذي ابتدعتموه، وجعلتم فيه آراء الرجال مقدمة علي ما أنزل الله وبعث به رسله، وفتحتم باباً لكل طائفة، بل لكل شخص، أن يقدم ما رآه بمعقوله علي ما ثبت عن الله ورسوله، بل يعلمه المخبر، ولهذا كان هذا القانون لا يظهره أحد من الطوائف المشهورين ن وإنما كان بعضهم يبطنه سراً، وإنما أظهر لما ظهر كلام الملاحدة أعداء الرسل. [الثاني] أن يقال: كل من له أدني معرفة بما جاء به النبي صلي الله عليه وسلم يعلم بالاضطرار أن النبي صلي الله عليه وسلم لم يدع الناس بهذه الطريقة، طريق الأعراض، ولا نفي الصفات أصلاً ن لا نصاً ولا ظاهراً، ولا ذكر ما يفهم منه ذلك لا نصاً ولا ظاهراً، ولا ذكر أن الخالق ليس فوق العالم ولا مبايناً له، أو أنه لا داخل العالم ولا خارجه، ولا ذكر ما يفهم منه ذلك لا نصاً ولا ظاهراً، بل ولا نفي الجسم الاصطلاحي، ولا ما يرادف من الألفاظ، ولا ذكر أن الحوادث يمتنع دوامها في الماضي والمستقبل، أو في الماضي، لا نصاً ولا ظاهراً، ولا أن الرب صار الفعل ممكناً له بعد أن لم يكن ممكناً، ولا أنه صار الكلام ممكناً له بعد أن لم يكن ممكنا ًن ولا أن كلامه ورضاه وغضبه وحبه وبغضه ونحو ذلك أمور مخلوقة بائنة عنه، وأمثال ذلك مما يقوله هؤلاء لا نصاً ولا ظاهراً.