Darʾ Taʿâroud al-ʿAql wa-n-Naql - Ibn Taimiya - (9/59)

Darʾ Taʿâroud al-ʿAql wa-n-NaqlIbn Taimiya

Do you not see that He, Exalted is He, said:

‘Did We not grant you lives long enough for whoever would reflect to do so? And the warner came to you.’

He thus based His case against them on the length of life granted for thought and recollection, and then on reflection intended to awaken them.”

I say:

Those who hold that reason makes knowledge of Allah obligatory, and that such knowledge can be attained only through reason, have stated that the messengers explained the rational proofs used by those engaged in inquiry, just as they awakened the heedless and reinforced the case against them. For they were no less capable than someone who learns arithmetic, medicine, astronomy, and jurisprudence from books—not by blindly following their authors’ statements, but because those authors’ explanations point him to proofs that he can examine through his own reason.

Allah’s guidance of His servants through the Books He has revealed, and His direction of them to illuminating proofs and paths leading to knowledge, along which the inquirer exercises his reason to attain that knowledge, are greater than the words of any speaker. For the best speech is Allah’s speech, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

Abū al-Khattāb adopts the position held by many—or most—of the Hanafīs, together with those scholastic theologians among the Mu‘tazilah and others who share this view: obligations established by reason do not depend upon reaching puberty, but are binding even before puberty, unlike obligations established by revelation.

He said:

“It was argued that if reason imposed obligations and prohibitions, knowledge of good and evil would necessarily have a foundation among the first principles of reason, upon which everything else would rest. Do you not see that eternity and temporal origination have such a foundation? If that were so, anyone denying good and evil would be defying his own reason and deceiving himself, for whoever denies what is self-evidently established is obstinately denying the obvious.”

ألا ترى أنه تعالى قال: {أولم نعمركم ما يتذكر فيه من تذكر وجاءكم النذير} ، فجعل الحجة عليهم طول العمر للتفكر والتذكر، ثم التدبر للتنبيه) . قلت: فهؤلاء الذين يقولون بوجوب المعرفة بالعقل، وأنها لا تحصل إلا بالعقل، ذكروا أن الرسل بينوا الأدلة العقلية التي يستدل بها الناظر، كما نبهوا الغافل ووكدوا الحجة، إذ كانوا ليسوا بدون من يتعلم الحساب والطب والنجوم والفقه، من كتب المصنفين، لا تقليداً لهم فيما ذكروه، لكن لأنهم يذكرون من الكلام ما يدله على الأدلة التي يستدل بها بعقله. فهداية الله لعباده بما أنزله من الكتب، وإرشاده لهم إلى الأدلة المرشدة، والطرق الموصلة، التي يعمل الناظر فيها بعقله ما يؤدي إليه من المعرفة، أعظم من كلام كل متكلم، فإن خير الكلام كلام الله، وخير الهدي هدي محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم. وأبو الخطاب يختار ما يختاره كثير من الحنفية - أو أكثرهم - مع من يقول ذلك من أهل الكلام من المعتزلة وغيرهم - من أن الواجبات العقلية لا يشترط فيها البلوغ، بل تجب قبل البلوغ، بخلاف الواجبات الشرعية. قال: (واحتج بأنه لو كان في العقل إلزام وحظر، لوجب أن يكون لمعرفة الحسن والقبح أصل في أوائل العقول يترتب عليه ما سواه. ألا ترى أن للقدم والحدث فيها أصلاً؟ ولو كان ذلك كذلك، لكان من أنكر الحسن والقبح مكابراً لعقله مغالطاً لنفسه، لأن جاحد ما يثبت في البدائه مكابر) .