Minhaj as-Sunnah - Ibn Taimiya - (2/594)

Minhaj as-SunnahIbn Taimiya

essence is used as a name for what is in the mind and existence as a name for what is in external reality, (1 the distinction remains established, just as it would if existence were used as a name for what is in the mind and essence as a name for what is in external reality 1) (1).

However, since (2) the term “essence” is derived from the question, “What is it?” and its answer is what is stated in response to the question, “What is it?” (3)—which is verbal discourse whose meaning the respondent conceives—“essence” came to designate (4) mental representations, whereas existence is the actual realization (5) of a thing in external reality.

Yet these people did not stop there. Rather, they claimed that the essences (6) of things subsist in external reality and are distinct from the existing concrete entities. This is necessarily an error, for the triangle that you know before knowing whether it exists in external reality is the triangle conceived (7) in the mind, which has no existence in external reality. Otherwise, it would be impossible for you to know the reality of a triangle existing in external reality before knowing of its existence [in external reality, for you cannot know the reality of anything in external reality until you know of its existence] (8). Whatever has its reality known (9) before it exists does not yet possess any reality except in the mind.

(1) The passage marked (1–1) is omitted from (ب) and (أ). (2) “Since” is omitted from (ب). The phrase “since it was” is omitted from (ع). The text is complete in (ن), (أ), and (م). (3) (ب), (أ): “and the answer to this is the statement, ‘What is it?’”; (ن), (م): “and the answer to this is what is stated in response to ‘What is it?’” (4) (ب), (أ): “other than the essence,” which is a textual corruption. (5) (ن), (م), (ع): “the actualization of.” (6) (ن), (م), (ع): “the essence of.” (7) “Conceived” is omitted from (ع). (8) The passage between square brackets is omitted from (ن) and (م). (9) (أ): “and its reality was known”; (ب): “even if its reality were known.”

جُعِلَتِ الْمَاهِيَّةُ اسْمًا لِمَا فِي الذِّهْنِ، وَالْوُجُودُ اسْمًا لِمَا فِي الْخَارِجِ (١ فَالْفَرْقُ ثَابِتٌ، كَمَا لَوْ جُعِلَ الْوُجُودُ اسْمًا لِمَا فِي الذِّهْنِ وَالْمَاهِيَّةُ اسْمًا لِمَا فِي الْخَارِجِ ١) (١) . لَكِنْ لَمَّا كَانَ (٢) لَفْظُ الْمَاهِيَّةِ مَأْخُوذًا مِنْ قَوْلِ السَّائِلِ: " مَا هُوَ؟ " ، وَجَوَابُ هَذَا هُوَ الْمَقُولُ فِي جَوَابِ: " مَا هُوَ " (٣) ، وَذَلِكَ كَلَامٌ يَتَصَوَّرُ مَعْنَاهُ الْمُجِيبُ، عُبِّرَ بِالْمَاهِيَّةِ (٤) عَنِ الصُّوَرِ الذِّهْنِيَّةِ، وَأَمَّا الْوُجُودُ فَهُوَ تَحَقُّقُ (٥) الشَّيْءِ فِي الْخَارِجِ. لَكِنَّ هَؤُلَاءِ لَمْ يَقْتَصِرُوا عَلَى هَذَا، بَلْ زَعَمُوا أَنَّ مَاهِيَّاتِ (٦) الْأَشْيَاءِ ثَابِتَةٌ فِي الْخَارِجِ وَأَنَّهَا غَيْرُ الْأَعْيَانِ الْمَوْجُودَةِ وَهَذَا غَلَطٌ بِالضَّرُورَةِ، فَإِنَّ الْمُثَلَّثَ الَّذِي تَعْرِفُهُ قَبْلَ أَنْ تَعْرِفَ وُجُودَهُ فِي الْخَارِجِ، هُوَ الْمُثَلَّثُ الْمُتَصَوَّرُ (٧) فِي الذِّهْنِ الَّذِي لَا وُجُودَ لَهُ فِي الْخَارِجِ، وَإِلَّا فَمِنَ الْمُمْتَنَعِ أَنْ تَعْلَمَ حَقِيقَةَ الْمُثَلَّثِ الْمَوْجُودِ فِي الْخَارِجِ قَبْلَ أَنْ تَعْلَمَ وُجُودَهُ [فِي الْخَارِجِ، فَمَا فِي الْخَارِجِ لَا تَعْلَمُ حَقِيقَتَهُ حَتَّى تَعْلَمَ وَجُودَهُ] (٨) ، وَمَا عُلِمَتْ (٩) حَقِيقَتُهُ قَبْلَ وُجُودِهِ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ حَقِيقَةٌ بَعْدُ إِلَّا فِي الذِّهْنِ.

(١) : (١ - ١) سَاقِطٌ مِنْ (ب) ، (أ) . (٢) لَمَّا: سَاقِطَةٌ مِنْ (ب) . وَسَقَطَتْ مِنْ (ع) عِبَارَةُ " لَمَّا كَانَ ". وَالْكَلَامُ تَامٌّ فِي (ن) ، (أ) ، (م) . (٣) ب، أ: وَجَوَابُ هَذَا هُوَ الْقَوْلُ مَا هُوَ ; ن، م: وَجَوَابُ هَذَا هُوَ الْقَوْلُ فِي جَوَابِ مَا هُوَ. (٤) ب، أ: غَيْرُ الْمَاهِيَّةِ، وَهُوَ تَحْرِيفٌ. (٥) ن، م، ع: تَحْقِيقَ. (٦) ن، م، ع: مَاهِيَّةَ. (٧) الْمُتَصَوَّرُ: سَاقِطَةٌ مِنْ (ع) . (٨) مَا بَيْنَ الْمَعْقُوفَتَيْنِ سَاقِطٌ مِنْ (ن) ، (م) . (٩) أ: وَعُلِمَتْ ; ب: وَلَوْ عُلِمَتْ.