Darʾ Taʿâroud al-ʿAql wa-n-Naql - Ibn Taimiya - (10/112)

Darʾ Taʿâroud al-ʿAql wa-n-NaqlIbn Taimiya

the response is as follows:

His knowledge of His own essence cannot be causative; only His knowledge of His creation can be causative. His knowledge has a causal role in bringing His creatures into existence, but none in His own existence. No rational person who understands this would dispute it, and perhaps this is all he intended.

The Qadariyyah among the speculative theologians say: “Knowledge follows the object known and corresponds to it; it neither imparts an attribute to it nor acquires an attribute from it.”

Many philosophers say: “The Lord’s knowledge is causative.” They may even identify His very knowledge with His act of creation.

We have discussed this at length elsewhere and explained that knowledge is of two kinds:

The first is a knower’s knowledge of what he intends to do. This is causative knowledge: it is a condition for the existence of the object known, since that object cannot exist without it.

The position of Ahl al-Sunnah is that Allah is the Creator of everything, including the acts of His servants. His knowledge is therefore causative with respect to all created things in this sense—not in the sense that knowledge alone constitutes creation, without power or will, as some philosophers maintain. That is false, as has been explained in its proper place.

The Qadariyyah hold that Allah creates the acts of His servants, so His knowledge of them is knowledge of something external to Him. For this reason, they do not regard His knowledge of created things as causative. They do not, however, dispute His knowledge of His creatures.

As for a knower’s knowledge of something whose existence does not depend on his knowing it—such as our knowledge of Allah, His angels, His prophets, His heavens and His earth—this knowledge follows the object known and corresponds to it. It is not causative in any respect.

The Lord’s knowledge of Himself belongs to this category.

There is, however, no objection if it is called receptive knowledge, since it is knowledge that comes into being. As for the knowledge of the Lord, Most High, it is inseparable from His holy essence

فيقال: علمه بذاته لا يمكن أن يكون فعلياً، وإنما يكون فعلياً علمه بخلقه. فإن علمه له تأثير في فعل خلقه، وليس له تأثير في وجود نفسه، وهذا مما لا ينازع فيه عاقل فهمه، ولعله ما أراد إلا هذا. فإن القدرية من أهل الكلام يقولون: العلم تابع للمعلوم، مطابق له، لا يكسبه صفة ولا يكتسب عنه صفة. وكثير من المتفلسفة يقولون: علم الرب فعلي، وقد يجعلون نفس علمه إبداعه. وقد بسطنا الكلام على هذا في موضع آخر، وبينا أن العلم نوعان: علم العالم بما يريد أن يفعله، فهذا علم فعلي، هو شرط في وجود المعلوم، إذ وجود المعلوم بدونه ممتنع. ومذهب أهل السنة أن الله خالق كل شيء من أفعال العباد وغيرها، فعلمه فعلي لجميع المخلوقات بهذا الاعتبار، لا باعتبار أن مجرد العلم هو الإبداع، من غير قدرة وإرادة، كما يقول ذلك من يقوله من المتفلسفة، فإن هذا باطل، كما قد بين في موضعه. والقدرية عندهم أن الله يخلق أفعال العباد، فعلمه بها علم بأمر أجنبي منه، فلهذا لا يجعلون علمه بالمخلوقات فعلياً، لكن علمه بمخلوقاته لا ينازعون فيه. وأما علم العالم بما ليس علمه به شرطاً في وجوده، كعلمنا بالله وملائكته وأنبيائه وسمواته وأرضه، فهذا علم تابع للمعلوم، مطابق له، ليس فعلياً بوجه من الوجوه. وعلم الرب بنفسه من هذا الباب. لكن إذا سمي علمياً انفعالياً فلا بأس، فإنه علم حادث. وأما علم الرب تعالى فإنه من لوازم نفسه المقدسة