Sharḥ Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (2/136)

Sharḥ Riyāḍ al-ṢāliḥīnIbn al-'Uthaymin

were as devout as the most devout heart among you, that would not add anything to My dominion.’ If the very first of creation and the very last of them—your human beings and your jinn—were all God-fearing, endowed with the most pious heart found in any single man, that would not increase Allah’s dominion in the least, for the kingdom belongs to Him alone, not to the obedient nor to the disobedient.

Likewise the Exalted says: ‘O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you, the humans among you and the jinn among you, were as wicked as the most wicked heart of any one man among you, that would not diminish My dominion in the least.’ If every servant—human and jinn, first and last—were utter reprobates, each having the most debased heart imaginable, that would still not detract from Allah’s dominion at all. Allah the Exalted has said: ‘If you are ungrateful, Allah has no need of you; yet He does not approve of disbelief for His servants. But if you give thanks, He is pleased with you’ (Az-Zumar 39:7). Thus the dominion of Allah—majestic and sublime—is unaffected by the sin of sinners and is not augmented by the obedience of the obedient; it remains Allah’s dominion in all circumstances.

These three statements, then, testify to Allah’s absolute self-sufficiency, the perfection of His sovereignty, and the fact that He is harmed by none and benefits from none, for He stands in need of no one whatsoever.

He, Most High, then said: ‘O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the humans among you and the jinn among you, to gather on a single plain and ask of Me, and were I to grant every person what he asked, that would not reduce what I possess in the slightest—no more than a needle is diminished when dipped into the sea.’ This statement points to the vastness of Allah’s dominion and to the perfection of His independence: even if all people and jinn from the beginning of time to its end were to stand together and request from Allah whatever their souls could conceive—no matter how great their demands—and Allah were to give each one what he asked, indeed were He to give every supplicant what he asked, that would not lessen Allah’s dominion in the least, for Allah is Generous, Ever-Providing, immeasurably rich, and boundless in His bounty.

كانوا على أتقى قلب رجل منكم، ما زاد في ملكي شيئاً) . لو أن أول الخلق وأخرهم وأنسكم وجنهم كانوا متقين، على أتقى قلب رجل واحد، ما زاد ذلك في ملك الله من شيئاً، لأن الملك ملكه، لا للطائعين ولا للعاصين. كذلك أيضاً يقول ـ جل وعلا ـ: (يا عبادي، لو أن أولكم وأخركم، وأنسكم وجنكم كانوا على أفجر قلب رجل واحد منكم، ما نقص ذلك من ملكي شيئاً) لو كان العباد كلهم من جن وأنس، وأولهم وأخرهم، لو كانوا كلهم فجاراً وعلى أفجر قلب رجل، فإن ذلك لا ينقص من ملك الله شيئاً، قال الله تعالى: (إِنْ تَكْفُرُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ عَنْكُمْ وَلا يَرْضَى لِعِبَادِهِ الْكُفْرَ وَإِنْ تَشْكُرُوا يَرْضَهُ لَكُمْ) (الزمر: ٧) ، فالله ـ جل وعلا ـ لا ينقص ملكه بمعصية العصاة، ولا يزيد بطاعة الطائعين، هو ملك الله على كل حال. ففي هذه الجمل الثلاث دليل على غنى الله ﷾، وكمال سلطانه، وأنه لا يتضرر بأحد ولا ينتفع بأحد؛ لأنه غني عن كل أحد. ثم قال تعالى: (يا عبادي لو أن أولكم وأخركم، وأنسكم وجنكم قاموا في صعيد واحد فسألوني فأعطيت كل إنسان مسألته، ما نقص ذلك مما عندي إلا كما ينقص المخيط إذا أدخل البحر) ، هذه الجملة تدل على سعة ملك الله ﷿ وعلى كمال غناه ﵎ لو أن الأولين والآخرين، والأنس والجن، قاموا كلهم في صعيد واحد، فسألوا الله ما تبلغه نفوسهم، من أس مسألة وإن عظمت، فأعطي الله كل إنسان ما سأل، بل أعطي الله كل سائل ما سأل، فإن ذلك لا ينقص من ملك الله شيئاً؛ لأن الله جواد، واجد، عظيم الغني، واسع العطاء ﷿.