Al-Rad 'ala al-Jahmiya - Ahmad Ibn Hanbal - (108)

Clarification of how Allah has distinguished between His utterance and His creation
When the Most High—exalted be His praise—gives two or even three different names to a single thing, He lets them flow together without any break. But when He names two distinct things, He never leaves them so joined; rather, He invariably separates them. One proof of this is His saying:

“O noble one, he has a father, an aged, very old man.” (Yusuf 12:78)

Here only one person is meant, yet Allah attaches three descriptions to him in an unbroken sequence; He did not say, “He has a father and an old man.”¹

Likewise, He says,

“It may be that, if he divorces you, his Lord will replace you with wives better than you—submissive, faithful, devout, penitent, worshipping …” (at-Tahrim 66:5),

and then continues,

“…mature women and virgins.” (at-Tahrim 66:5)

In this last verse the two distinct categories are set off from each other by the conjunction “and,” illustrating the same principle.

Footnote in the original.

(1) See: al-Ibana, vol. 2, pp. 166–167. (2) Some Qurʾanic commentators call this particle the “waw of eight.” Al-Shawkani states in Fath al-Qadir, 2/593: “It has been said that this waw is merely superfluous, while others maintain that it is the so-called ‘waw of eight’ known to the grammarians, as in the verses: thayyibatin wa abkara (previously-married and virgins), wa futihat abwabuha (and its gates will be opened), and sabʿatun wa thaminuhum kalbuhum (seven—and their dog was the eighth). Abu ʿAli al-Farisi rejected the existence of a ‘waw of eight,’ and Ibn Khalawayh disputed with him on the point.” Ibn al-Qayyim comments in Badaʾiʿ al-Fawaʾid, 3/51:

بيان ما فصَّل الله بين قوله وخلقه وذلك أن الله جعل ثناؤه إذا سمى الشيء الواحد باسمين أو ثلاثة أسامٍ فهو مرسل غير منفصل، وإذا سمى شيئين مختلفين لا يدعهما مرسلين حتى يفصل بينهما من ذلك قوله: {يَا أَيُّهَا الْعَزِيزُ إِنَّ لَهُ أَبًا شَيْخًا كَبِيرًا} [يوسف: ٧٨] . فهذا شيء واحد سماه بثلاثة أسامٍ، وهو مرسل، ولم يقل: إن له أبًا وشيخًا كبيرًا ١. وقال: {عَسَى رَبُّهُ إِنْ طَلَّقَكُنَّ أَنْ يُبْدِلَهُ أَزْوَاجًا خَيْرًا مِنْكُنَّ مُسْلِمَاتٍ مُؤْمِنَاتٍ قَانِتَاتٍ تَائِبَاتٍ عَابِدَاتٍ} . ثم قال: {ثَيِّبَاتٍ وَأَبْكَارًا} [التحريم: ٥] .

١ انظر: الإبانة "١٦٦/٢، ١٦٧". ٢ هذه الواو يسميها بعض المفسرين بـ"واو الثمانية". قال الشوكاني في فتح القدير "٥٩٣/٢": وقيل: إن الواو زائدة. وقيل: هي واو الثمانية المعروفة عند النحاة، كما في قوله تعالى: {ثَيِّبَاتٍ وَأَبْكَارًا} وقوله: {وَفُتِحَتْ أَبْوَابُهَا} وقوله: {سَبْعَةٌ وَثَامِنُهُمْ كَلْبُهُمْ} . وقد أنكر واو الثمانية أبو علي الفارسي، وناظره في ذلك ابن خالويه. وقال ابن القيم في بدائع الفوائد "٥١/٣":