Al-Muqaddimāt al-Mumahhidāt - Ibn Rush al-Jadd - (1/20)

Al-Muqaddimāt al-MumahhidātIbn Rush al-Jadd

, Exalted is He. For if both attributes of deficiency and attributes of perfection were possible for Him, He would possess one rather than the other only through a determinant assigning it to Him, and that is untenable. Once we know that He is living, willing, knowing, powerful, hearing, seeing, speaking, and perceiving all objects of perception, we know that He possesses knowledge, life, power, will, hearing, sight, speech, a perception by which He perceives everything touched, a perception by which He perceives everything tasted, and a perception by which He perceives everything smelled. For it is impossible for there to be a living being without life, a knowing being without knowledge, a powerful being without power, a willing being without will, a hearing being without hearing, a seeing being without sight, a speaking being without speech, or a perceiving being without perception.

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These, then, are ten attributes of His essence, Exalted is He. They neither depart from Him nor are they other than Him. They are known through both reason and revelation, and no one among Ahl al-Sunnah disagrees concerning them. As for His description of Himself in His Book as having a face, two hands, and two eyes, reason has no scope in this matter; it is known only through revelation. It must therefore be believed and affirmed without specifying how or assigning limits, for He has neither a body, nor a bodily member, nor a form. This is the position of the discerning scholars among the theologians.

Many of the shaykhs, however, have stopped short of affirming these five attributes. They said that nothing may be affirmed among Allah’s attributes unless it is known through self-evident rational knowledge or rational proof. They interpreted these expressions otherwise than according to their apparent meanings, saying that the face means the essence, just as “face” is used of a road or a matter to mean the thing itself. By the two eyes they mean [the perception of visible things, and by the two hands] the two blessings. His words, Exalted is He,

“with My two hands” [Sād: 75],

mean “for My two hands,” since prepositions may replace one another. The correct position, however, is that of the discerning scholars who affirmed these as attributes of His essence, Exalted is He. Accordingly, the attributes of His essence, Exalted is He, number fifteen.

تعالى. إذ لو جازت عليه صفات النقص وصفات الكمال لما اختص بإحداهما دون صاحبتها إلا بمخصص يخصصه بها وذلك باطل. وإذا علمنا أنه حي مريد عالم قادر سميع بصير متكلم مدرك لجميع المدركات علمنا أن له علما وحياة وقدرة وإرادة وسمعا وبصرا وكلاما وإدراكا يدرك به جميع الملموسات، وإدراكا يدرك به جميع المذوقات، وإدراكا يدرك به جميع المشمومات، لاستحالة وجود حي بلا حياة، وعالم بلا علم، وقادر بلا قدرة، ومريد بلا إرادة، وسميع بلا سمع، وبصير بلا بصر، ومتكلم بلا كلام، ومدرك بلا إدراك. فصل فهذه عشر من صفات ذاته تعالى لا تفارقه ولا تغايره، تدرك من جهة العقل ومن جهة السمع، ولا اختلاف فيها بين أحد من أهل السنة. وأما ما وصف به نفسه تعالى في كتابه من أن له وجها ويدين وعينين فلا مجال للعقل في ذلك، وإنما يعلم من جهة السمع، فيجب اعتقاد ذلك والإيمان به من غير تكييف ولا تحديد، إذ ليس بذي جسم ولا جارحة ولا صورة. هذا قول المحققين من المتكلمين. وقد توقف كثير من الشيوخ عن إثبات هذه الصفات الخمس وقالوا لا يجوز أن يثبت في صفات الله تعالى ما لا يعلم بضرورة العقل ولا بدليله، وتأولوها على غير ظاهرها فقالوا المراد بالوجه الذات كما يقال وجه الطريق ووجه الأمر أي ذاته ونفسه. والمراد بالعينين [إدراك المرئيات، والمراد باليدين] النعمتان. وقَوْله تَعَالَى: ﴿بِيَدَيَّ﴾ [ص: ٧٥]، أي ليدي لأن حروف الخفض يبدل بعضها من بعض والصواب قول المحققين الذين أثبتوها صفات لذاته تعالى، فعلى هذا تأتي صفات ذاته تعالى خمس عشرة صفة.