Minhaj as-Sunnah - Ibn Taimiya - (3/186)

Minhaj as-SunnahIbn Taimiya

the two journeys(1) cannot be made at one(2) and the same instant. This is not even a thing of which it could be said, “It is decreed.” Rather, it has no reality and is no thing at all. It is merely something the mind conceives(3) by conceiving(4) an analogous thing in external reality, so that it may judge(5) it to be impossible in external reality. The mind cannot, however, conceive this [in](6) external reality. It can conceive [the coexistence of](7) color and taste in a single substrate, such as white sweetness [and whiteness](8). The mind then poses this question to itself(9): “Can blackness and whiteness coexist in a [single](10) substrate, as color and taste(11) coexist?” It thereby knows that such coexistence is impossible in external reality. It also knows that it is possible for Zayd to be(12) in the east while Amr is in the west(13), and it poses this question in its mind: “Can Zayd himself be in both places, just as Zayd and Amr were?” It thus knows that this is impossible.

This(14) and similar arguments are advanced by those who divide will into two kinds and distinguish between one of its two kinds

(1) “The two journeys” is omitted from (A) and (B). (2) (N) and (M) read *awānin* (“time”), which is a corruption. (3) (N) and (M) read: “conceives it”; (B) reads: “posits it.” (4) (A) and (B) read: “due to its conception of it.” (5) (A) and (B) read: “and thus judges.” (6) “In” is omitted from (N) and (M). (7) “The coexistence of” is omitted from (N) and (M). (8) “And whiteness” is omitted from (N) and (M). (9) (N) and (M) read: “in the mind, within itself.” (10) “Single” is added in (ʿA). (11) (N), (M), and (ʿA) read: “taste and color.” (12) “May be” is omitted from (A) and (B). (13) (ʿA) reads: “in the east and Amr in the west.” (14) (N) and (M) read: “And this.”

يُمْكِنُ هَذَانِ السَّفَرَانِ (١) فِي آنٍ (٢) وَاحِدٍ، وَلَيْسَ هَذَا بِشَيْءٍ حَتَّى يُقَالَ: إِنَّهُ مُقَدَّرٌ، بَلْ هَذَا لَا حَقِيقَةَ لَهُ، وَلَيْسَ بِشَيْءٍ، بَلْ هُوَ أَمْرٌ يَتَصَوَّرُهُ (٣) الذِّهْنُ كَتَصَوُّرِهِ (٤) لِنَظِيرِهِ فِي الْخَارِجِ، لِيَحْكُمَ (٥) عَلَيْهِ بِالِامْتِنَاعِ فِي الْخَارِجِ، وَإِلَّا فَمَا يُمْكِنُ الذِّهْنُ أَنَّ يَتَصَوَّرَ هَذَا [فِي] (٦) الْخَارِجِ، وَلَكِنَّ الذِّهْنَ يَتَصَوَّرُ [اجْتِمَاعَ] (٧) اللَّوْنِ وَالطَّعْمِ فِي مَحَلٍّ وَاحِدٍ، كَالْحَلَاوَةِ الْبَيْضَاءِ [وَالْبَيَاضِ] (٨) ، ثُمَّ يَقْدِرُ الذِّهْنُ فِي نَفْسِهِ (٩) : هَلْ يُمْكِنُ أَنْ يَجْتَمِعَ السَّوَادُ وَالْبَيَاضُ فِي مَحَلٍّ [وَاحِدٍ] (١٠) ، كَاجْتِمَاعِ اللَّوْنِ وَالطَّعْمِ (١١) ، فَيَعْلَمَ أَنَّ هَذَا الِاجْتِمَاعَ مُمْتَنِعٌ فِي الْخَارِجِ، وَيَعْلَمَ أَنَّهُ يُمْكِنُ أَنْ زِيدًا قَدْ يَكُونُ (١٢) فِي الشَّرْقِ وَعَمْرًا فِي الْغَرْبِ (١٣) ، وَيُقَدِّرُ فِي ذِهْنِهِ: هَلْ يُمْكِنُ أَنْ يَكُونَ زَيْدٌ نَفْسُهُ فِي هَذَيْنِ الْمَكَانَيْنِ، كَمَا كَانَ هُوَ وَعَمْرٌو؟ فَيَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا مُمْتَنِعٌ. فَهَذَا (١٤) وَنَحْوُهُ كَلَامُ مَنْ جَعَلَ الْإِرَادَةَ نَوْعَيْنِ وَيُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدِ نَوْعَيْهَا

(١) السَّفَرَانِ: سَاقِطَةٌ مِنْ (أ) ، (ب) . (٢) ن، م: أَوَانٍ، وَهُوَ تَحْرِيفٌ. (٣) ن، م: يَتَصَوَّرُ، ب: يُقَدِّرُهُ. (٤) أ، ب: لِتَصَوُّرِهِ. (٥) أ، ب: فَيَحْكُمَ. (٦) فِي: سَاقِطَةٌ مِنْ (ن) ، (م) . (٧) اجْتِمَاعَ: سَاقِطَةٌ مِنْ (ن) ، (م) . (٨) وَالْبَيَاضِ: سَاقِطَةٌ مِنْ (ن) ، (م) . (٩) ن، م: فِي الذِّهْنِ فِي نَفْسِهِ. (١٠) وَاحِدٍ: زِيَادَةٌ فِي (ع) . (١١) ن، م، ع: الطَّعْمِ وَاللَّوْنِ. (١٢) قَدْ يَكُونُ: سَاقِطَةٌ مِنْ (أ) ، (ب) . (١٣) ع: فِي الْمَشْرِقِ وَعَمْرًا فِي الْمَغْرِبِ. (١٤) ن، م: وَهَذَا.