Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyya - Ibn Taimiya - (4/319)

in The Book of the Sunnah. He said: “These people end up negating the divine attributes by denying that Allah can be seen.”

For Allah has power over all things. This is a general statement admitting no exceptions. What is intrinsically impossible, however, is not a thing, as all rational people agree: it is self-contradictory, and its existence is inconceivable. It therefore does not fall within the meaning of “thing” so as to be included in that general statement. An example is someone asking, “Can He cause Himself to cease to exist, or create His like?” Power necessarily entails the existence of the one possessing it, whereas his nonexistence is incompatible with his existence. It is therefore as though one were asking, “Can He be both existent and nonexistent?” This is inherently contradictory, has no reality, and is not a thing at all.

Likewise, the existence of His like would entail a thing being both existent and nonexistent. For the like of a thing is something that can stand in its stead and take its place. Thus, the thing would have to be existent, nonexistent before its existence, dependent, and subject to a lord. If it were then supposed to be like the Creator Most High, it would necessarily be self-existent, eternal, always having existed, self-sufficient, and a lord; while the Creator would be needy, contingent, nonexistent, dependent, and subject to a lord. Thus, one and the same thing would be eternal and brought into being, needy and self-sufficient, necessarily existent and contingent, existent and nonexistent, a lord and subject to a lord. This is contradictory, has no reality, and is not a thing at all. It therefore does not fall within the general statement; the same applies to similar cases.

As for creating in His servants a capacity by which they can see Him, this entails the perfection of His power. There is nothing that exists in its own right but that Allah has the power to show it to us. Indeed, this may be said of everything that exists, whether it subsists in its own right or in something else.

في كتاب السنة قال القوم يرجعون إلى التعطيل في كونهم ينكرون الرؤية وذلك أن الله على كل شيء قدير وهذا لفظ عام لا تخصيص فيه فأما الممتنع لذاته فليس بشيء باتفاق العقلاء وذلك أنه متناقض لا يعقل وجوده فلا يدخل في مسمى الشيء حتى يكون داخلاً في العموم مثل أن يقول القائل هل يقدر أن يعدم نفسه أو يخلق مثله فإن القدرة تستلزم وجود القادر وعدمه ينافي وجوده فكأنه قيل هل يكون موجوداً معدوماً وهذا متناقض في نفسه لا حقيقة له وليس بشيء أصلاً وكذلك وجود مثله يستلزم أن يكون الشيء موجوداً معدوماً فإن مثل الشيء ما يسد مسده ويقوم مقامه فيجب أن يكون الشيء موجوداً معدوماً قبل وجوده مفتقراً مربوباً فإذا قدر أنه مثل الخالق تعالى لزم أن يكون واجباً قديماً لم يزل موجوداً غنياً رباً ويكون الخالق فقيراً ممكناً معدوماً مفتقراً مربوباً فيكون الشيء الواحد قديماً محدثاً فقيراً مستغنياً واجباً ممكناً موجوداً معدوماً رباً مربوباً وهذا متناقض لا حقيقة له وليس بشيء أصلاً فلا يدخل في العموم وأمثال ذلك أما خلق قوة في العباد يقدرون به على رؤيته فإن ذلك يقتضي كمال قدرته وما من موجود قائم بنفسه إلا والله قادر على أن يرينا إياه بل قد يقال ذلك في كل موجود سواء قام بنفسه أو قام بغيره