Minhaj as-Sunnah - Ibn Taimiya - (3/294)

Minhaj as-SunnahIbn Taimiya

in that respect. Thus, they say that He alone (1) is the Creator of every substance and accident. For this reason, they deemed the Lord’s most distinctive attribute to be the power to originate. The correct view, however, is that the power to originate is one of His distinctive attributes, but is not by itself the most distinctive (2) of His attributes.

Those others exclude the actions (3) of living beings from being created by Him. The true import of their doctrine (4) is therefore to deny that these originated events have any creator and to affirm partners with Allah who bring them about. [Indeed, many of the later Qadariyya say that human beings create these actions, whereas their predecessors did not dare to say this (5)] (6).

Moreover, the theologians among the people of [affirmation] (7) affirm Allah’s attributes of perfection, such as life (8), knowledge, power, speech (9), hearing, and sight. These theologians affirm this (10), but they have fallen short regarding some attributes of perfection and regarding tawhīd. They assumed that the perfection of tawhīd consists in affirming the oneness of Allah’s lordship, but they did not rise to affirming the oneness of His divinity—the tawhīd brought by the messengers and for which the Books were sent down.

(1) Manuscripts (N) and (M): “Thus, they say that Allah alone…” (2) Manuscripts (A) and (B): “It is not, by itself, the most distinctive”; manuscripts (N) and (M): “By itself, it is not the most distinctive.” (3) Manuscripts (A) and (B): “states.” (4) Manuscript (ʿ): “created by Allah, and the verification of their doctrine.” (5) Manuscripts (A) and (B): “However, their predecessors refrain from that”; manuscript (A) reads *yahturūn* in place of *yahtarizūn*. (6) The text between square brackets is omitted from manuscripts (N) and (M). (7) “Affirmation” is omitted from manuscripts (N) and (M). (8) Manuscripts (A) and (B): “life.” (9) Manuscript (N): “and perfection,” which is a corruption. (10) Manuscripts (A), (B), (M), and (ʿ): “deny,” which is an error. Ibn Taymiyya is speaking here of the Ashʿarīs, who affirmed some of the attributes but fell short regarding some of the attributes of perfection, and so forth.

بِذَلِكَ، فَيَقُولُونَ: إِنَّهُ وَحْدَهُ (١) خَالِقُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ مِنَ الْأَعْيَانِ وَالْأَعْرَاضِ؛ وَلِهَذَا جَعَلُوا أَخَصَّ صِفَةِ الرَّبِّ الْقُدْرَةَ عَلَى الِاخْتِرَاعِ، وَالتَّحْقِيقُ أَنَّ الْقُدْرَةَ عَلَى الِاخْتِرَاعِ مِنْ جُمْلَةِ خَصَائِصِهِ، لَيْسَتْ هِيَ وَحْدَهَا أَخَصَّ (٢) صِفَاتِهِ. وَأُولَئِكَ يُخْرِجُونَ أَفْعَالَ (٣) الْحَيَوَانِ عَنْ أَنْ تَكُونَ مَخْلُوقَةً لَهُ، وَحَقِيقَةُ قَوْلِهِمْ (٤) تَعْطِيلُ هَذِهِ الْحَوَادِثِ عَنْ خَالِقٍ لَهَا، وَإِثْبَاتُ شُرَكَاءَ لِلَّهِ يَفْعَلُونَهَا [وَكَثِيرٌ مِنْ مُتَأَخِّرَةِ الْقَدَرِيَّةِ يَقُولُونَ: إِنَّ الْعِبَادَ خَالِقُونَ لَهَا، وَلَمْ يَكُنْ سَلَفُهُمْ يَجْتَرِئُونَ عَلَى ذَلِكَ (٥) ] (٦) . وَأَيْضًا فَمُتَكَلِّمَةِ أَهْلِ [الْإِثْبَاتِ] (٧) يُثْبِتُونَ لِلَّهِ صِفَاتَ الْكَمَالِ كَالْحَيَاةِ (٨) وَالْعِلْمِ وَالْقُدْرَةِ وَالْكَلَامِ (٩) وَالسَّمْعِ وَالْبَصَرِ. وَهَؤُلَاءِ يُثْبِتُونَ (١٠) ذَلِكَ لَكِنْ قَصَّرُوا فِي بَعْضِ صِفَاتِ الْكَمَالِ، وَقَصَّرُوا فِي التَّوْحِيدِ، فَظَنُّوا أَنَّ كَمَالَ التَّوْحِيدِ هُوَ تَوْحِيدُ الرُّبُوبِيَّةِ، وَلَمْ يَصْعَدُوا إِلَى تَوْحِيدِ الْإِلَهِيَّةِ الَّذِي جَاءَتْ بِهِ الرُّسُلُ وَنَزَلَتْ بِهِ الْكُتُبُ.

(١) ن، م: فَيَقُولُونَ اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ. (٢) أ، ب: لَيْسَ هِيَ وَحْدَهَا أَخَصَّ، ن، م: لَيْسَتْ وَحْدَهَا هِيَ أَخَصَّ. (٣) أ، ب: أَحْوَالَ. (٤) ع: مَخْلُوقَةً لِلَّهِ وَتَحْقِيقُ قَوْلِهِمْ. (٥) أ، ب: وَلَكِنَّ سَلَفَهُمْ يَحْتَرِزُونَ أ: يَحْتُرُونَ، عَنْ ذَلِكَ. (٦) مَا بَيْنَ الْمَعْقُوفَتَيْنِ سَاقِطٌ مِنْ (ن) ، (م) . (٧) الْإِثْبَاتِ: سَاقِطَةٌ مِنْ (ن) ، (م) . (٨) أ، ب: الْحَيَاةَ. (٩) ن: وَالْكَمَالِ، وَهُوَ تَحْرِيفٌ. (١٠) أ، ب، م، ع: يَنْفُونَ، وَهُوَ خَطَأٌ، وَكَلَامُ ابْنِ تَيْمِيَّةَ هُنَا عَلَى الْأَشَاعِرَةِ الَّذِينَ أَثْبَتُوا بَعْضَ الصِّفَاتِ وَلَكِنْ قَصَّرُوا فِي بَعْضِ صِفَاتِ الْكَمَالِ. . . إِلَخْ.