Al-Ṣafadiyyah - Ibn Taimiya - (1/103)

Al-ṢafadiyyahIbn Taimiya

On this very foundation the revealed scriptures have been sent down. In them God, exalted be He, portrays Himself with the attributes of perfection in explicit detail: He declares that He is All-Knowing of everything, All-Powerful over all things, Mighty, Wise, Forgiving, Loving, Hearing, Seeing—together with the rest of His beautiful names and majestic attributes. At the same time He informs us that “there is nothing comparable to Him” and that “none is equal to Him,” and He says, “Do you know of any namesake for Him?” (Qur’an 19:65).

Thus He affirmed for Himself every perfection by affirming the names and attributes, while at once denying that He bears any resemblance to created beings. For this reason the creed of the Salaf of the Ummah and its leading Imams has always been to describe God—glorified and exalted—with whatever He has described Himself and with whatever His Messenger has described Him, without distortion or denial, and without probing into the modality or likening Him to His creation. They affirm the divine names and attributes, yet negate any similarity between Him and the creatures—affirmation without similitude, and transcendence without nullification—as He, the Most High, has said: “There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing” (Qur’an 42:11).

His words, “There is nothing like unto Him,” rebut the anthropomorphists, whereas His words, “and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing,” rebut the negators. As for those who deny even the divine names—those extremists among the Jahmites, the esotericists, and the philosophers—they outdid the Muʿtazilites only by rejecting the attributes altogether and by wielding the charge of tashbīh in vague, equivocal terms, just as the Muʿtazilites had previously done against Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamāʿah, the affirmers of the attributes. When they declared that affirming the attributes amounted to invalid anthropomorphism, their opponents pressed them to follow their own logic through, forcing them to repudiate even the Most Beautiful Names.

In truth, the matter is precisely the reverse: affirming the divine names is correct, and it necessarily entails affirming the attributes. For to claim that He is Living yet possesses no life, that He is Knowing yet has no knowledge, or that He is Powerful

وبهذا جاءت الكتب الإلهية فإن الله تعالى وصف نفسه فيها بصفات الكمال على وجه التفصيل فأخبر أنه بكل شيء عليم وعلى كل شيء قدير وأنه عزيز حكيم غفور ودود سميع بصير إلى غير ذلك من أسمائه وصفاته وأخبر أنه ليس كمثله شيء ولم يكن له كفوا أحد وقال تعالى {هَلْ تَعْلَمُ لَهُ سَمِيّاً} فأثبت لنفسه ما يستحقه من الكمال بإثبات الأسماء والصفات ونفى عنه مماثلته المخلوقات ولهذا كان مذهب سلف الأمة وأئمتها أنهم يصفون الله سبحانه وتعالى بما وصف به نفسه وبما وصفه به رسوله من غير تحريف ولا تعطيل ومن غير تكييف ولا تمثيل يثبتون له الأسماء والصفات وينفون عنه مماثلة المخلوقات إثبات بلا كمثيل وتنزيه بلا تعطيل كما قال تعالى {لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ} فقوله ليس كمثله شيء رد على أهل التمثيل وقوله وهو السميع البصير رد على أهل التعطيل وهؤلاء نفاة الأسماء من هؤلاء الغالية من الجهمية الباطنية والفلاسفة وإنما استطالوا على المعتزلة بنفي الصفات وأخذوا لفظ التشبيه بالاشتراك والإجمال كما أن المعتزلة فعلت كذلك بأهل السنة والجماعة مثبتة الصفات فلما جعلوا إثبات الصفات من التشبيه الباطل ألزمهم أولئك بطرد قولهم فألزموهم نفي الأسماء الحسنى والأمر بالعكس فإن إثبات الأسماء حق وهو يستلزم إثبات الصفات فإن إثبات حي بلا حياة وعالم بلا علم وقادر