16
mentioned earlier, and you have offered no argument to invalidate it. Anyone who denounces people on account of their doctrines (1) must therefore demonstrate their invalidity (2). Most people (3) hold that Allah is above the world. Even if one of them does not use the term “direction,” they believe in their hearts [and say] (4) with their tongues that (5) their Lord is above. They say that this is something upon which they were created and to which they are naturally disposed, as Shaykh Abū Jafar al-Hamadhānī (6) said to one of
(1) B reads: “whoever denounces their doctrine”; A reads: “whoever denounces their doctrines.”
(2) B and A read: “to its invalidity.”
(3) B and A read: “and the majority of the later scholars.”
(4) “And they say” is absent only from N.
(5) “That” is absent from B and A.
(6) N and M read: “Abū al-Fadl al-Hamdānī”; B and A read: “Abū Jafar al-Hamdānī.” In *al-Ibar*, 4/85, among the deaths recorded for 531 AH, al-Dhahabī mentions “Abū Jafar al-Hamadhānī, Muhammad ibn Abī Alī al-Hasan ibn Muhammad, the trustworthy hadith master. He traveled widely and transmitted from Ibn al-Naqqūr, Abū Sālih al-Muadhdhin, al-Fadl ibn al-Muhibb, and their contemporaries in Khorasan, Iraq, and the Hijaz. Ibn al-Samānī said: ‘I know of no one in his time who heard more hadith than he did.’ He died in Dhū al-Qada.” Ibn al-Imād reproduced this passage in *Shadharāt al-Dhahab*, 4/97, adding: “Nāsir al-Dīn said: ‘He was a hadith master and a prolific transmitter.’” Al-Yāfiī also quoted part of it in *Mirāt al-Jinān*, 3/259. Both, however, rendered his nisba as al-Hamdānī, with the unpointed letter *dāl*.
In *al-Muntaqā min Minhāj al-Itidāl*, al-Dhahabī gives the wording as follows: “As Abū Jafar al-Hamdānī said to Abū al-Maālī …” The account in al-Subkī’s *Tabaqāt al-Shāfiiyya* and in the biography of al-Juwaynī in al-Dhahabī’s *Mukhtasar al-Uluww li-l-Aliyy al-Ghaffār* (Damascus: al-Maktab al-Islāmī, 1st ed., 1401 AH/1981 CE, edited by al-Albānī) establishes that the following dialogue took place between al-Juwaynī and Abū Jafar al-Hamadhānī. *Tabaqāt al-Shāfiiyya*, 5/190, states:
“… from Abū al-Alā, the hadith master of Hamadhān, who informed him. He said: Abū Jafar al-Hamadhānī, the hadith master, informed me: ‘I heard Abū al-Maālī al-Juwaynī when he was asked about the statement of Allah Most High, “The Most Merciful rose over the Throne.” He replied, “Allah was, and there was no Throne,” and began floundering in his discourse. I said: “We understand what you are alluding to, but can one evade what is apprehended by necessity?” He asked: “What do you mean by these words, and what do you intend by this allusion?” I replied: “No knower of Allah has ever said, ‘O Lord!’ without an impulse first arising within him—before his tongue moves—that turns neither right nor left but directs itself upward. Have you any way of avoiding this inescapable impulse? Explain it, so that we may dispense with above and below.” I wept, and the people wept. He struck the seat with his hand, cried out in bewilderment, tore what he was wearing, and an uproar erupted in the mosque. He then stepped down and answered me only with exclamations of shock and bewilderment. Afterward, I heard some of his companions say: “We heard him say, ‘Al-Hamadhānī has baffled me.’”’” End quote. See *Mukhtasar al-Uluww li-l-Aliyy al-Ghaffār*, pp. 276–277.
تَقَدَّمَ ذِكْرُهُ، وَأَنْتَ لَمْ تَذَكُرْ حُجَّةً عَلَى إِبْطَالِهِ، فَمَنْ شَنَّعَ عَلَى النَّاسِ بِمَذَاهِبِهِمْ
(١)
، فَلَا بُدَّ أَنْ يُشِيرَ إِلَى إِبْطَالِهِ
(٢)
، وَجُمْهُورُ الْخَلْقِ
(٣)
عَلَى أَنَّ اللَّهَ فَوْقَ الْعَالَمِ، وَإِنْ كَانَ أَحَدُهُمْ لَا يَلْفِظُ بِلَفْظِ
" الْجِهَةِ "
فَهُمْ يَعْتَقِدُونَ بِقُلُوبِهِمْ
[وَيَقُولُونَ]
(٤)
بِأَلْسِنَتِهِمْ أَنَّ
(٥)
رَبَّهُمْ فَوْقُ، وَيَقُولُونَ إِنَّ هَذَا أَمْرٌ فُطِرُوا عَلَيْهِ وَجُبِلُوا عَلَيْهِ، كَمَا قَالَ الشَّيْخُ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ الْهَمَذَانِيُّ
(٦)
لِبَعْضِ
(١) ب: فَمَنْ شَنَّعَ عَلَى مَذْهَبِهِمْ ; أ: فَمَنْ شَنَّعَ عَلَى مَذَاهِبِهِمْ.
(٢) ب، أ: إِلَى بُطْلَانِهِ.
(٣) ب، أ: وَجُمْهُورُ الْخَلَفِ.
(٤) وَيَقُولُونَ: سَاقِطَةٌ مِنْ (ن) فَقَطْ.
(٥) أَنَّ: سَاقِطَةٌ مِنْ (ب) ، (أ) .
(٦) ن، م: أَبُو الْفَضْلِ الْهَمْدَانِيُّ ; ب، أ: أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ الْهَمْدَانِيُّ. وَذَكَرَ الذَّهَبِيُّ فِي " الْعِبَرِ " ٤/٨٥ فِي وَفَيَاتِ سَنَةِ ٥٣١: " أَبَا جَعْفَرٍ الْهَمَذَانِيَّ مُحَمَّدَ بْنَ أَبِي عَلِيٍّ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ الْحَافِظَ الصَّدُوقَ. رَحَلَ وَرَوَى عَنِ ابْنِ النَّقُّورِ وَأَبِي صَالِحٍ الْمُؤَذِّنِ وَالْفَضْلِ بْنِ الْمُحِبِّ وَطَبَقَتِهِمْ بِخُرَاسَانَ وَالْعِرَاقِ وَالْحِجَازِ. قَالَ ابْنُ السَّمْعَانِيِّ: مَا أَعْرِفُ أَنَّ فِي عَصْرِهِ أَحَدًا سَمِعَ أَكْثَرَ مِنْهُ. تُوُفِّيَ فِي ذِي الْقَعْدَةِ " وَنَقَلَ هَذَا الْكَلَامَ ابْنُ الْعِمَادِ فِي " شَذَرَاتِ الذَّهَبِ " ٤/٩٧ وَزَادَ بِقَوْلِهِ: وَقَالَ نَاصِرُ الدِّينِ: كَانَ حَافِظًا مِنَ الْمُكْثِرِينَ "، كَمَا نَقَلَ بَعْضَهُ الْيَافِعِيُّ فِي " مِرْآةِ الْجِنَانِ " ٣/٢٥٩، وَلَكِنَّهُمَا جَعَلَا نِسْبَتَهُ: الْهَمْدَانِيَّ، بِالدَّالِ الْمُهْمَلَةِ. وَفِي " الْمُنْتَقَى مِنْ مِنْهَاجِ الِاعْتِدَالِ " ذَكَرَ الذَّهَبِيُّ الْعِبَارَةَ كَمَا يَلِي: " كَمَا قَالَ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ الْهَمْدَانِيُّ لِأَبِي الْمَعَالِي. . . إِلَخْ ". وَقَدْ وَرَدَ فِي " طَبَقَاتِ الشَّافِعِيَّةِ " لِلسُّبْكِيِّ وَفِي تَرْجَمَةِ الْجُوَيْنِيِّ فِي كِتَابِ " مُخْتَصَرِ الْعُلُوِّ لِلْعَلِيِّ الْغَفَّارِ " لِلذَّهَبِيِّ (ط. الْمَكْتَبِ الْإِسْلَامِيِّ، دِمَشْقَ، ١/١٤٠١ \ ١٩٨١ (بِتَحْقِيقِ الْأَلْبَانِيِّ) مَا يُثْبِتُ أَنَّ الْحِوَارَ التَّالِيَ دَارَ بَيْنَ الْجُوَيْنِيِّ وَبَيْنَ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ الْهَمَذَانِيِّ ; فَفِي " طَبَقَاتِ الشَّافِعِيَّةِ "، ٥/١٩٠: ". . . عَنْ أَبِي الْعَلَاءِ الْحَافِظِ الْهَمَذَانِيِّ أَخْبَرَهُ، قَالَ: أَخْبَرَنِي أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ الْهَمَذَانِيُّ الْحَافِظُ، قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ أَبَا الْمَعَالِي الْجُوَيْنِيَّ وَقَدْ سُئِلَ عَنْ قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى: (الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَى) فَقَالَ: كَانَ اللَّهُ وَلَا عَرْشَ، وَجَعَلَ يَتَخَبَّطُ فِي الْكَلَامِ، فَقُلْتُ: قَدْ عَلِمْنَا مَا أَشَرْتَ إِلَيْهِ فَهَلْ عِنْدَ الضَّرُورَاتِ مِنْ حِيلَةٍ؟ فَقَالَ: مَا تُرِيدُ بِهَذَا الْقَوْلِ وَمَا تَعْنِي بِهَذِهِ الْإِشَارَةِ؟ قُلْتُ: مَا قَالَ عَارِفٌ قَطُّ يَا رَبَّاهُ إِلَّا قَبْلَ أَنْ يَتَحَرَّكَ لِسَانُهُ قَامَ مِنْ بَاطِنِهِ قَصْدٌ لَا يَتَلَفَّتُ يَمْنَةً وَلَا يَسْرَةً يَقْصِدُ الْفَوْقِيَّةَ. فَهَلْ لِهَذَا الْقَصْدِ الضَّرُورِيِّ عِنْدَكَ مِنْ حِيلَةٍ؟ فَبَيِّنْهَا نَتَخَلَّصْ مِنَ الْفَوْقِ وَالتَّحْتِ. وَبَكَيْتُ وَبَكَى الْخَلْقُ، فَضَرَبَ بِيَدِهِ عَلَى السَّرِيرِ وَصَاحَ بِالْحَيْرَةِ وَخَرَقَ مَا كَانَ عَلَيْهِ، وَصَارَتْ قِيَامَةٌ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ فَنَزَلَ وَلَمْ يُجِبْنِي إِلَّا بِتَأْفِيفِ الدَّهْشَةِ وَالْحَيْرَةِ، وَسَمِعْتُ بَعْدَ هَذَا مِنْ أَصْحَابِهِ يَقُولُونَ: سَمِعْنَاهُ يَقُولُ: حَيَّرَنِي الْهَمَذَانِيُّ، انْتَهَى ". وَانْظُرْ: مُخْتَصَرَ الْعُلُوِّ لِلْعَلِيِّ الْغَفَّارِ، ص ٢٧٦ - ٢٧٧.