Mukhtasar al-Uluww lil-Ali al-Azim - A-Dhahabi - (145)

Mukhtasar al-Uluww lil-Ali al-AzimA-Dhahabi

and the intellects have recoiled from grasping His true magnitude; they found no passage, so they returned humiliated and weary. People were only commanded to observe and reflect on what He created. The word “how” is asked only of one who did not exist and then came into existence. As for Him who neither changes nor disappears, who has always been and has no equal, none knows how He is but He Himself—until he said:

The very proof that minds are incapable of determining His attribute is their inability to determine the attribute of the smallest of His creatures: a minute being 1 that appears and vanishes, whose sight and hearing cannot be perceived. Recognize, then, that you have no need to burden yourself with describing what the Lord did not describe of Himself when you are already unable to know the extent of what He did describe. If you have not comprehended what He has made known, why strive to know what He has left unknown? Will such striving lead you to any act of obedience or restrain you from any act of disobedience?

As for the one who denies what the Lord has affirmed of Himself, out of pretension and excess, the devils have lured him astray on earth, leaving him bewildered. He turned blind to what is manifest by chasing what is obscure, and Satan kept encouraging him until he rejected the Almighty’s words: “Faces on that Day will be radiant, looking toward their Lord” (Q 75:22–23). He claims, “He will not be seen on the Day of Resurrection,” even though the Muslims asked their Prophet ﷺ, “Messenger of Allah, shall we see our Lord?” and he replied, “Do you have any difficulty seeing the sun…,” 119 —to the end of the ḥadīth. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ also said, “Hellfire will not be filled until the Compeller places His Foot in it; then it will say, ‘Enough! Enough!’ and draw together upon itself.” And he said to Thābit ibn Qays, “Allah laughed at what you did with your guest last night.” He quoted a long section to this effect. It was narrated by Abū Bakr al-Athram. 2

ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz was an ocean of knowledge in the Ḥijāz. On one occasion a proclamation was made in Madinah by order of al-Manṣūr: “No one may issue fatwas to the people except Mālik and ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn al-Mājishūn.”

(1) The manuscript reads: "saghiran" (small/young); the wording adopted here is the one Ibn Taymiyya quotes from Ibn al-Majishun in al-Hamawiyya. (2) The manuscript has: "al-Ashram." Ibn Batta also reports this narration in al-Ibana with a sound chain from Ibn al-Majishun, as cited in al-Aqidah al-Hamawiyya.

وانحسرت العقول دون معرفة قدره، فلم تجد العقول مساغاً فرجعت خاسئة حسيرة، وإنما أمروا بالنظر والتفكر فيما خلق، وإنما يقال "كيف" لمن لم يكن مرة ثم كان، أما من لا يحول، ولا يزول، ولم يزل، وليس له مثل، فإنه لا يعلم كيف هو إلا هو -إلى أن قال-: فالدليل على عجز العقول عن تحقيق صفته، عجزها عن تحقيق صفة أصغر خلقه، لا تكاد تراه صغراً١ يحول ويزول، ولا يرى له بصر ولا سمع، فاعرف غناك عن تكلف صفة ما لم يصف الرب من نفسه، بعجزك عن معرفة قدر ما وصف منها، فإذا لم تعرف قدر ما وصف فما تكلفك علم ما لم يصف، هل تستدل بذلك على شيء من طاعته، أو تنزجر به عن شيء من معصيته؟ فأما الذي جحد ما وصف الرب عن نفسه تعمقا وتكلفا فقد استهوته الشياطين في الأرض حيران، فعمي عن البين بالخفي، ولم يزل يملي له الشيطان حتى جحد قوله تعالى: ﴿وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَاضِرَةٌ، إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ﴾ فقال: لا يُرى يوم القيامة، وقد قال المسلمون لنبيهم ﷺ: هل نرى ربنا رسول الله؟ فقال: "هل تضارون في رؤية الشمس" الحديث ١١٩- إلى أن قال- وقال رسول الله ﷺ: "لا تمتلئ النار حتى يضع الجبار فيها قدمة فتقول: قط! قط! ويزوي بعضها إلى بعض". وقال لثابت بن قيس: "لقد ضحك الله مما فعلت بضيفك البارحة" وذكر فصلاً طويلاً في المعنى. رواه أبو بكر الأثرم٢. كان عبد العزيز من بحور العلم بالحجاز، نودي مرة بالمدينة بأمر المنصور: لا يفتي الناس إلا مالك وعبد العزيز بن الماجشون.

١ في المخطوطة: "صغيرا" وما أثبته هو الموافق لما نقله ابن تيمية في "الحموية" عن ابن الماجشون. ٢ في المخطوطة: "الأشرم" ورواه ابن بطة في "الإبانة" بإسناد صحيح عن ابن الماجشون كما في "العقيدة الحموية".