Darʾ Taʿâroud al-ʿAql wa-n-Naql - Ibn Taimiya - (9/149)

Darʾ Taʿâroud al-ʿAql wa-n-NaqlIbn Taimiya

Similarly, the opponents of the Mu'tazilah say to them:

“You agree with all other Muslims and the adherents of other religions that Allah created the heavens and the earth in six days, that He is the Creator of all things, that He is eternal, and that everything besides Him came into being after having been nonexistent.

Your purpose in presenting your proofs is to establish this. What need, then, have you to concede to the eternalists something they can use to strengthen their case against you?

If Allah could have created the heavens and the earth and brought them into being through acts that He brought into being beforehand, with every event preceded by another event, while everything besides Allah is created, made, and brought into being, then your purpose is achieved.

If Allah Most High has always spoken whenever He wills, or acted as He wills, this does not contradict the world's being His creation. The heavens and the earth would thus have been created in six days, as the messengers have told us; Allah is the Creator of all things, and everything besides Him came into being after having been nonexistent.”

Their opponents also say to them:

“You sought to establish that the world came into being and to establish the existence of the Maker, glorified is He, by means of something you made a necessary condition for the world's coming into being—indeed, even a necessary condition for knowing the Maker. Yet what you put forward contradicted the world's coming into being, the knowledge that it came into being, and the knowledge that establishes the Maker's existence.

This is because you supposed that the heavens could not have come into being unless a beginningless succession of events were impossible, and that Allah Most High could not bring any of His creatures into being unless, from eternity until He brought created things into being, He had neither performed any act nor uttered any speech. Indeed, in your view, it was not even possible for Him to act perpetually, or for His words to be perpetual and without limit

وهكذا يقول للمعتزلة منازعوهم، يقولون: أنتم موافقون لسائر المسلمين وأهل الملل على أن الله خلق السماوات والأرض في ستة أيام، وأنه خالق كل شيء، وأنه القديم، وكل ما سواه محدث مسبوق بالعدم. ومقصودكم بالأدلة بيان ذلك، فأي حاجة لكم إلى أن تسلموا للدهرية ما يستظهرون به عليكم؟ وإذا جاز أن يكون الله خلقها وأحدثها بأفعال أحدثها قبل ذلك، وكل حادث مسبوق بحادث، مع أن ما سوى الله مخلوق مصنوع مفطور، حصل مقصودكم. وإذا كان الله تعالى لم يزل متكلماً إذا شاء، أو فاعلاً لما يشاء، لم يناقض هذا كون العالم مخلوقاً له، فتكون السماوات والأرض مخلوقة في ستة أيام، كما أخبرت بذلك الرسل، والله خالق كل شيء، وكل ما سواه محدث مسبوق بالعدم. ويقول لهم منازعوهم: أنتم أردتم إثبات حدوث العالم، وإثبات الصانع سبحانه بما جعلتموه شرطاً في حدوثه، بل وشرطاً في العلم بالصانع، فكان ما ذكرتموه مناقضاً لحدوث العالم، وللعلم بحدوثه، وللعلم بإثبات الصانع. وذلك أنكم ظننتم أنه لا يتم حدوث السماوات إلا بامتناع حوادث لا أول لها، وأن إحداث الله تعالى لشيء من مخلوقاته لا يمكن إلا إذا بقي من الأزل إلى حين أحداث المحدثات، لم يفعل شيئاً من الأفعال ولا الأقوال، بل ولا كان يمكنه عندكم الفعل الدائم، ولا أن تكون كلماته دائمة لا نهاية