Minhaj as-Sunnah - Ibn Taimiya - (5/376)

Minhaj as-SunnahIbn Taimiya

from any heir of a prophet, the claim that he knows a form of tawhīd that he cannot articulate. Rather, everything known by the heart can be expressed, though perhaps only some people will understand it.

As for claiming that Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—was incapable of explaining the tawhīd that Allah had taught him, that is not so.

It should further be said: If what is meant by this glimmer is that the Lord Himself affirms His own oneness in the hearts of His elect because He is united with them or indwells them, then this is the doctrine of the Christians, and it is false both according to revealed law and reason.

If what is meant is that He grants His elect knowledge of His tawhīd, knowledge of Him, and faith in Him that He does not grant to others, then this is true. However, what subsists in their hearts is not the Lord [the Creator] Most High Himself (1); rather, it is knowledge of Him, love for Him, recognition of Him, and affirmation of His oneness.

This may be called the highest similitude, and His statement, Most High, may be interpreted accordingly:

“His is the highest similitude in the heavens and the earth.”

[Surah al-Rūm: 27]

That is, in the hearts of the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth. It is also called the representation born of love and the cognitive representation (2). A person of deficient intellect who loves someone so completely that he becomes wholly absorbed in that love and perceives none but the beloved in his heart may imagine that the beloved himself has come (3) to be within his heart. He is mistaken (4) in this. Rather, the beloved is elsewhere: either in his home, or in the mosque (5), or in

(1) N and M read: “It is not the Lord—Most High—Himself”; B reads: “It is not the Creator Himself”; H, R, W, and Y read: “It is not the Lord, the Creator, Himself.” (2) W reads: “the exalted representation and the sensory representation.” (3) N reads: “came to be” [feminine form]. (4) N and M read: “This is an error.” (5) N and M read: “either in the mosque or in his home.”

وَارِثِ نَبِيٍّ، أَنَّهُ يَدَّعِي أَنَّهُ يَعْلَمُ تَوْحِيدًا لَا يُمْكِنُهُ النُّطْقُ بِهِ، بَلْ كُلُّ مَا عَلِمَهُ الْقَلْبُ أَمْكَنَ التَّعْبِيرُ عَنْهُ، لَكِنْ قَدْ لَا يَفْهَمُهُ إِلَّا بَعْضُ النَّاسِ. فَأَمَّا أَنْ يُقَالَ: إِنَّ مُحَمَّدًا - صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ - عَاجِزٌ عَنْ أَنْ يُبَيِّنَ مَا عَرَّفَهُ اللَّهُ مِنْ تَوْحِيدِهِ. فَهَذَا لَيْسَ كَذَلِكَ. ثُمَّ يُقَالُ: إِنْ أُرِيدَ بِهَذَا اللَّائِحِ أَنْ يَكُونَ الرَّبُّ نَفْسُهُ هُوَ الْمُوَحِّدُ لِنَفْسِهِ فِي قُلُوبِ صَفْوَتِهِ لِاتِّحَادِهِ بِهِمْ، أَوْ حُلُولِهِ فِيهِمْ. فَهَذَا قَوْلُ النَّصَارَى، وَهُوَ بَاطِلٌ شَرْعًا وَعَقْلًا. وَإِنْ أُرِيدَ أَنَّهُ يُعَرِّفُ صَفْوَتَهُ مِنْ تَوْحِيدِهِ وَمَعْرِفَتِهِ وَالْإِيمَانِ بِهِ مَا لَا يُعَرِّفُهُ غَيْرَهُمْ. فَهَذَا حَقٌّ، لَكِنْ مَا قَامَ بِقُلُوبِهِمْ لَيْسَ هُوَ نَفْسَ الرَّبِّ [الْخَالِقِ] تَعَالَى (١) ، بَلْ هُوَ الْعِلْمُ بِهِ وَمَحَبَّتُهُ وَمَعْرِفَتُهُ وَتَوْحِيدُهُ. وَقَدْ يُسَمَّى الْمَثَلُ الْأَعْلَى، وَيُفَسَّرُ بِهِ قَوْلُهُ - تَعَالَى -: {وَلَهُ الْمَثَلُ الْأَعْلَى فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ} [سُورَةُ الرُّومِ: ٢٧] أَيْ فِي قُلُوبِ أَهْلِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ، وَيُقَالُ لَهُ: الْمِثَالُ الْحُبِّيُّ وَالْمِثَالُ الْعِلْمِيُّ (٢) . وَقَدْ يُخَيَّلُ لِنَاقِصِ الْعَقْلِ إِذَا أَحَبَّ شَخْصًا مَحَبَّةً تَامَّةً، بِحَيْثُ فَنِيَ فِي حُبِّهِ، حَتَّى لَا يَشْهَدَ فِي قَلْبِهِ غَيْرُهُ، أَنَّ نَفْسَ الْمَحْبُوبِ صَارَ (٣) فِي قَلْبِهِ، وَهُوَ غَالِطٌ (٤) فِي ذَلِكَ، بَلِ الْمَحْبُوبُ فِي مَوْضِعٍ آخَرَ: إِمَّا فِي بَيْتِهِ، وَإِمَّا فِي الْمَسْجِدِ (٥) ، وَإِمَّا فِي

(١) ن، م: لَيْسَ هُوَ نَفْسَ الرَّبِّ - تَعَالَى -، ب: لَيْسَ هُوَ نَفْسَ الْخَالِقِ، ح، ر، و، ي: لَيْسَ هُوَ نَفْسَ الرَّبِّ الْخَالِقِ. (٢) و: الْمِثَالُ الْعَلِيُّ وَالْمِثَالُ الْحِسِّيُّ. (٣) ن: صَارَتْ. (٤) ن، م: وَهَذَا غَلَطٌ. (٥) ن، م: إِمَّا فِي الْمَسْجِدِ وَإِمَّا فِي بَيْتِهِ.