Darʾ Taʿâroud al-ʿAql wa-n-Naql - Ibn Taimiya - (10/85)

does not require an image to be imprinted or anything to issue forth; rather, the absence of a veil between the seer and the seen is sufficient. The Light of Lights is manifest to Himself, so not even an atom’s weight in the heavens or on earth escapes Him. Nothing veils anything from Him. His knowledge and His sight are therefore one, and His light is His power, since light is distinct from His essence.”

He said:

“The Peripatetics and their followers said: ‘The knowledge of the Necessary Existent is not something additional to Him; rather, it is His not being absent from His own immaterial essence.’

“They also said: ‘Things come into existence through His knowledge of them.’”

He said:

“They may be answered as follows: If He knows, something necessarily results from that knowledge. Knowledge therefore precedes things and His not being absent from them, since not being absent from things comes after their realization. Just as His effect is distinct from His essence, so His knowledge of His effect is distinct from His knowledge of His essence.”

ليس من شرطه انطباع شبح أو خروج شيء، بل كفى عدم الحجاب بين الباصر والمبصر، فنور الأنوار ظاهر لذاته فلا يعزب عنه مثقال ذرة في السموات ولا في الأرض، لا يحجبه شيء عن شيء، فعلمه وبصره واحد، ونوره قدرته، إذ النور مباين لذاته. قال: والمشاؤون وأتباعهم قالوا: علم واجب الوجود ليس بزائد عليه، بل هو عدم غيبته من ذاته المجردة عن المادة. وقالوا: وجود الأشياء عن علمه بها. قال: فيقال لهم: إن علم لزم من العلم شيء، فيقدم العلم على الأشياء وعلى عدم الغيبة، فإن عدم الغيبة عن الأشياء يكون بعد تحققها، فكما أن معلوله غير ذاته فالعلم بمعلوله غير العلم بذاته.