Darʾ Taʿâroud al-ʿAql wa-n-Naql - Ibn Taimiya - (8/523)

Darʾ Taʿâroud al-ʿAql wa-n-NaqlIbn Taimiya

as He has praised Himself, and thank Him for His blessings as He has taught us, for He needs nothing, while everything stands in need of Him.

Allah said:

‘O mankind, you stand in need of Allah, whereas Allah is Self-Sufficient, Praiseworthy.’

Because of our need, we did not know Him through ourselves; because He has no need of us, we knew Him through Him. He has enabled us to attain more through our efforts and to reach our ends through means. From Him is the beginning, and to Him is the ultimate return. Whoever obliges us to invoke a cause, we turn that same cause back upon him, and a regress ensues. To Allah all matters return:

‘To Him the whole affair is returned.’

He is therefore not unknown, such that He must be inferred, nor something expected, such that He must be awaited. Messengers have a role in acts of worship, inference in created things, intellects in governed affairs, and spiritual exercises in acquired attainments.

He, glorified be He, has declared in His Book:

‘I did not create jinn and mankind except to worship Me.’

It has also been reported: ‘that they may know Me.’

For this reason, knowledge occurred in everyone, whereas worship did not. He intended them to know Him and then worship Him upon the foundation of that knowledge. The knowledge of His lordship that He compelled them to possess came about; what He left them to acquire through their own efforts came about in some, but not others. Do you not see that the disbelievers did not express astonishment or denial at His being Lord and God, glorified be He? Rather, what they found astonishing and denied was His oneness in divinity. They said:

‘Has he made the gods one God? This is indeed an astonishing thing!’

What He intended them to bring about was subject to causes. As for the knowledge of His lordship that He imposed upon them, they had no way of denying or repudiating it, unlike other kinds of knowledge.”

[Continuation of al-Basrī’s Words and Ibn Taymiyyah’s Commentary]

He said:

“The proponents of doctrines have placed each kind of knowledge where it does not belong,

بثنائه، ونشكره كما علمنا على آلائه، إذ هو الغني عن كل شيء، وكل شيء إليه فقير. قال الله: {يا أيها الناس أنتم الفقراء إلى الله والله هو الغني الحميد} ، فلفقرنا لم نعرفه بنا، ولغنائه عنا عرفناه به، وجعل لنا الزيادة في الكسب، والتوصل بالأسباب، ومنه البداية، وإليه المنتهى، فكل من ألزمنا بسبب، عكسنا عليه ذلك السبب، وتسلسل الأمر، وإلى الله ترجع الأمور: {وإليه يرجع الأمر كله} ، فلا مجهول فيستدل عليه، ولا متوقع فيرتقب، فللرسل تأثير في العبادات، وللاستدلال تأثير في المكونات، وللعقول تأثير في المدبرات، وللرياضات تأثير في المكتسبات. وقد أخبر سبحانه في كتابه فقال: {وما خلقت الجن والإنس إلا ليعبدون} ، وقد روي: ليعرفون. فلأجل ذلك وقعت المعرفة من الجميع ولم تقع العبادة، فأراد ليعرفوه ثم يعبدوه على بساط المعرفة، فما جبرهم عليه من معرفة ربوبيته وقع، وما ردهم فيه إلى الاكتساب وقع من بعض دون بعض، ألا ترى أنه لم يقع من الكفار التعجب والإنكار من أنه سبحانه رب وإله؟ وإنما تعجبت وأنكرت التوحيد بالإلهية، فقالوا: {أجعل الآلهة إلها واحدا إن هذا لشيء عجاب} ، فما أريد منهم أن يقع بهم علل، وما ألزمهم من معرفة ربوبيته لم يكن لهم سبيل إلى إنكاره وجحده كغيره من المعارف) . [تتمة كلام البصري وتعليق ابن تيمية] قال: (فأصحاب المقالات وضعت كل معرفة غير موضعها،