Darʾ Taʿâroud al-ʿAql wa-n-Naql - Ibn Taimiya - (7/133)

Darʾ Taʿâroud al-ʿAql wa-n-NaqlIbn Taimiya

Another approach is their statement that people’s turning to their Lord for needs that none but He can fulfil is also instinctive, as is their turning to Him with their hearts directed upward. They are naturally disposed to acknowledge Him and that He is above; to acknowledge their need for Him and appeal to Him in dire necessity; and to turn to Him above, not below. Their hearts naturally turn upward—except, of course, those who have corrupted their innate disposition and deliberately sought to divert it from its natural course. Yet even for such a person, when confronted with reality, his innate disposition prevails, and what he had fabricated vanishes from him.

Another approach is their statement that this is a matter of agreement among rational people whose innate disposition is sound. Each reports it from his own innate disposition, without prior collusion with the others. Ordinarily, it is impossible for people like these to agree to lie deliberately. Nor can they be mistaken about innate, self-evident matters, for that would close the door to knowledge and understanding, and prevent anyone from trusting anything he knows.

Whenever something like this is called into question, it is far easier to question the premises of whatever is claimed to contradict it. For the opponents’ rational arguments must include propositions they have received from one another. Thus, agreement in error or deliberate falsehood is possible among them in a way that it is not among those who agree on propositions they have not received from one another, especially given the latter’s great numbers and the diversity of their groups.

Another approach is to establish that Allah is above through inferential arguments, such as their statement that, of any two existing entities, one must either be distinct from the other or be within it, and other such arguments known to them. Thus they have on their side self-evident knowledge, an instinctive turning, the agreement of rational people who have not colluded over their propositions, and rational arguments

ومنها: أنهم يقولون: قصدهم لربهم عند الحاجات التي لا يقضيها إلا هو - هو أيضاً ضروري، وقصدهم لهم بتوجه قلوبهم إلى العلو أيضاً ضروري، فهم مفطورون على الإقرار به وأنه في العلو، وعلى انهم محتاجون غليه يسألونه عن الضرورات، وعلى انهم يقصدونه في العلو ولا في السفل، وأن قلوبهم بفطرتها تتوجه إلى العلو، اللهم إلا من أفسد فطرته وقصد أن يصدها عن مقتضاها مع أن هذا عند الحقيقة يغلب مع فطرته، ويظل عنه ما كان يفتريه. ومنها أنهم يقولون: إن ذلك أمر متفق عليه بين العقلاء السليمي الفطرة، وكل منهم يخبر بذلك عن فطرته من غير موطأة من بعضهم البعض، ويمتنع في مثل هؤلاء أن يتفقوا على تعمد الكذب عادة، ويمتنع أيضاً غلطهم في الأمور الفطرية الضرورية، فإن ذلك يسد باب العلم والمعرفة، وأن يثق الإنسان بشيء من علومه. ومتى قدح في مثل هذا، كان القدح في مقدمات ما يدعى أنه معارض لذلك أسهل بكثير، فإن المعارضين لا بد فيما يعارضون به من العقليات من قضايا تلقاها بعضهم عن بعض، فيجوز عليهم فيها من الاتفاق على الغلط وعلى تعمد الكذب، ما لا يجوز على المتفقين على قضايا لم يتلقها بعضهم عن بعض، مع كثرة هؤلاء وتنوع أصنافهم. ومنها أنهم يثبتون العلو بطرق نظرية: كقولهم: كل موجودين فإما أن يكون أحدهما مبايناً للآخر، وإما أن يكون مداخلاً له، ونحو ذلك من الطرق المعلومة لهم، فمعهم من العلم الضروري، والقصد الضروري، واتفاق العقلاء الذين لم يتواطأوا على قضاياهم والعقليات