Al-Rad 'ala al-Jahmiya - Ahmad Ibn Hanbal - (163)

Al-Rad 'ala al-JahmiyaAhmad Ibn Hanbal

Thus the vile man realized that Allah had exposed him and laid bare his disgrace when he alleged that the word “Allah”—exalted is His praise—found in the Quran is nothing but a created name.

We said to the Jahmiyyah:
If someone were to swear a deliberate lie, saying, “By Allah, there is no deity but He,” he would, on your view, incur no perjury, because he would have sworn by a created thing rather than by the Creator. In this, Allah has disgraced him.

We also said to him:
Were not the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—Abu Bakr, ʿUmar, ʿUthmān, ʿAlī, the caliphs after them, as well as the governors and judges, all accustomed to make people swear by the words, “By Allah, there is no deity but He”? According to your doctrine, they were all mistaken; in your estimation the Prophet—peace be upon him—and those after him should have made people swear by “the One whose name is Allah.”

Likewise, whenever they wished to utter the testimony, “There is no deity but Allah,” they would have had to say, “There is no deity except the One who created Allah”; otherwise, their profession of monotheism would be invalid. Thus Allah exposed him for the lie he attributed to Allah.

Rather, we say: Allah is Allah; “Allah” is not merely a name—names are entities distinct from Allah1. For if Allah did not speak, by what means did He create the creation?

(1) Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyya—may Allah have mercy on him—states in Majmuʿ al-Fatawa, 6:185-187: Scholars have differed over the relationship between the “name” (ism) and the “named” (musamma): are they identical, distinct, should neither assertion be made, or does the answer vary according to context? This dispute became widespread after the time of the early imams—after Ahmad ibn Hanbal and others. What was acknowledged among the leading Sunni authorities, Ahmad and his peers, was their repudiation of the Jahmiyya, who claimed that the names of Allah are created and therefore held that the name is other than the Named. They argued that Allah’s names are something external to Him, and whatever is external to Him is created. The Salaf condemned them severely, for Allah’s names belong to His speech, and His speech is uncreated: He Himself uttered it and He is the One who named Himself with the names it contains. The Jahmiyya, however, maintained that His speech is created, His names are created, and that He did not speak with a speech subsisting in His essence, nor did He name Himself with any name that He Himself uttered. Rather, they may even claim that He spoke it and named Himself with these =

فعلم الخبيث أن الله قد فضحه، وأبدى عورته حين زعم أن الله -جل ثناؤه- في القرآن إنما هو اسم مخلوق. وقلنا للجهمية: لو أن رجلاً حلف بالله الذي لا إله إلا هو كاذبًا كان لا يحنث، لأنه حلف بشيء مخلوق، ولم يحلف بالخالق، ففضحه الله في هذه. وقلنا له: أليس النبي -صلى الله عليه وسلم- وأبو بكر وعمر وعثمان وعلي والخلفاء من بعدهم، والحكام والقضاة، إنما كانوا يحلفون الناس بالله الذي لا إله إلا هو؟ فكانوا في مذهبهم مخطئين، إنما كان ينبغي للنبي -عليه السلام- ولمن بعده في مذهبكم أن يحلفوا بالذي اسمه الله، وإذا أرادوا أن يقولوا: لا إله إلا الله. يقولون: لا إله إلا الذي خلق الله، وإلا لم يصح توحيدهم، ففضحه الله بما ادعى من الكذب على الله. ولكن نقول: إن الله هو الله، وليس الله باسم: إنما الأسماء شيء سوى الله١؛ لأن الله إن لم يتكلم فبأي شيء خلق الخلق؟

١ قال شيخ الإسلام ابن تيمية -رحمه الله- في مجموع الفتاوى "١٨٥/٦-١٨٧": اختلف في الاسم والمسمى: هل هو هو أو غيره أو لا يقال: هو هو، ولا يقال: هو غيره أو هو له؟ أو يفصل في ذلك؟ فإن الناس قد تنازعوا في ذلك والنزاع اشتهر في ذلك بعد الأئمة بعد أحمد وغيره، والذي كان معروفًا عند أئمة السنة أحمد وغيره الإنكار على الجهمية الذين يقولون: أسماء الله مخلوقة. فيقولون: الاسم غير المسمى. وأسماء الله غيره، وما كان غيره فهو مخلوق، وهؤلاء هم الذين ذمهم السلف وغلظوا فيهم القول؛ لأن أسماء الله من كلامه، وكلامه غير مخلوق، بل هو المتكلم به، وهو المسمى لنفسه بما فيه من الأسماء. والجهمية يقولون: كلامه مخلوق وأسماؤه مخلوقة وهو نفسه لم يتكلم بكلام يقوم بذاته ولا سمى نفسه باسم هو المتكلم به. بل قد يقولون: إنه تكلم به وسمى نفسه بهذه =