Al-Ṣafadiyyah - Ibn Taimiya - (2/54)

attributes and acts arise within it; therefore, anything in which such occurrences subsist must itself be originated, otherwise the proof for the world’s origination and for the existence of the Maker would fall apart.

They consequently said: His speech must be created after having been nonexistent, so that He becomes a Speaker after not having been one—just as He became an Agent after not having acted, and His action is originated.

They further claimed: Whatever is the locus of temporal events is itself temporal, as has already been stated; hence no speech, act, or attribute can inhere in Him. They thus asserted that His speech is created outside Himself, and that no knowledge, power, life, or any other attribute subsists in Him. For, they argued, were such attributes to subsist in Him they would be accidents residing in a body, and every body is originated. They also maintained that He is neither above the universe nor separate from it; that nothing ascends to Him and nothing descends from Him; and that He cannot be seen—for, they said, if any of this were true He would be a body, and a body is originated.

When they publicized this doctrine, the Ummah rose in protest, declaring: “This is to strip the Creator of His perfections, to deny His attributes, His speech, His acts, and even His very essence.” The leading scholars and the early generations openly condemned and pronounced anathema upon the Jahmites and upon those who said, “The Qur’an is created.” As the debate spread and both men of the sword and men of the pen became embroiled in it, the dispute and contention intensified. It then became clear to the great majority of Muslims and to the Imams of the religion that this doctrine is corrupt, for it leads to the stance of Pharaoh and other negators—even though its proponents did not intend that. They had entered into speculative discussions, imagining that they were defending what the Messenger had brought, but the result was the very opposite: they had understood neither the Messenger’s teaching nor the proof for it.

الصفات والأفعال بها فكل ما قامت به فهو حادث وإلا انتقض الدليل على حدوث العالم وإثبات الصانع. قالوا: فيجب أن يكون كلامه حادثا بعد أن لم يكن ويصير متكلما بعد أن لم يكن كما أنه صار فاعلا بعد أن لم يكن فاعلا وفعله حادث. قالوا: وكل ما قامت به الحوادث فهو حادث كما تقدم فيلزم أن لا يقوم به كلام ولا فعل ولا صفة فقالوا كلامه مخلوق في غيره ولا يقوم به علم ولا قدرة ولا حياة ولا غير ذلك من الصفات لأنه لو قام به ذلك لكان عرضا قائما بالجسم والجسم محدث قالوا وليس هو فوق العالم ولا مباين للعالم ولا يصعد إليه شيء ولا ينزل من عنده شيء ولا يرى لأنه لو كان كذلك لكان جسما والجسم محدث. فلما أظهروا هذا القول شاع في الأمة إنكار ذلك وقالوا هذا تعطيل للخالق وجحود لصفاته وكلامه وأفعاله ولذاته فظهر عن الأئمة والسلف النكير والتكفير للجهمية وهؤلاء الذين قالوا القرآن مخلوق فلما شاع الخوض في هذا والنزاع ودخلت فيه أهل السيوف والأقلام وعظم فيه النزاع والخصام ظهر لجمهور المسلمين وأئمة الدين فساد هذا القول فإنه يجر إلى قول فرعون ونحوه من المعطلة وإن كان قائلو ذلك ما قصدوا به ذلك بل دخلوا في بحوث ظنوها تنصر ما جاء به الرسول فكان الأمر بالعكس فإنهم لم يفهموا ما جاء به الرسول ولا دليله.