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The first is the position of the majority of speculative theologians who affirm the attributes. They say: He is knowing by His knowledge and powerful by His power; His knowledge is identical with His being knowing, and His power is identical with His being powerful.
The discerning negators, such as Abū al-Husayn al-Basrī (1) and others, acknowledge that His being living is not the same as His being knowing, and that His being knowing is not the same as His being powerful. The same is acknowledged by those among them who affirm states (2). This is precisely the position of the majority who affirm the attributes but not the states.
However, those who affirm the states together with the attributes, such as al-Qādī Abū Bakr and al-Qādī—
(1) A, B: Abū al-Hasan al-Basrī. The correct reading is the one adopted here. He is Abū al-Husayn Muhammad ibn Alī al-Tayyib al-Basrī, discussed previously at 1:395. See also his biographical notices in *Lisān al-Mīzān*, 5:298, and *Tārīkh Baghdād*, 3:100.
(2) Al-Shahrastānī states in *Nihāyat al-Iqdām*, p. [0–9]77: “Your distinctions among concepts and considerations, Abū Hāshim’s distinctions among states, and Abū al-Husayn’s distinctions among attributes all follow the same pattern. You all point to referents whose properties and realities differ.” See also the same work, p. 175. Ibn Tāhir states in *Usūl al-Dīn*, p. [0–9]2: “Abū Hāshim ibn al-Jubbā'ī recognized the unsoundness of his father’s doctrine, which made the very essence of the Creator the cause of His being knowing and powerful. He therefore disagreed with his father and maintained that Allah is knowing because He is in a state and powerful because He is in a state. He further maintained that His knowing each object of knowledge entails a state distinct from that by virtue of which He knows another object of knowledge … and so forth.” See also *al-Milal wa al-Nihal*, 1:77.
فَالْأَوَّلُ:
قَوْلُ جُمْهُورِ نُظَّارِ الْمُثْبِتَةِ الصِّفَاتِيَّةِ،
يَقُولُونَ:
إِنَّهُ عَالِمٌ بِعِلْمِهِ، وَقَادِرٌ بِقُدْرَتِهِ، وَعِلْمُهُ نَفْسُ عَالَمِيَّتِهِ، وَقُدْرَتُهُ نَفْسُ قَادِرِيَّتِهِ.
وَعُقَلَاءُ النُّفَاةِ كَأَبِي الْحُسَيْنِ الْبَصْرِيِّ
(١)
وَغَيْرِهِ يُسَلِّمُونَ أَنَّ كَوْنَهُ حَيًّا لَيْسَ هُوَ كَوْنَهُ عَالِمًا، وَكَوْنُهُ عَالِمًا لَيْسَ هُوَ كَوْنَهُ قَادِرًا، وَكَذَلِكَ مُثْبِتَةُ الْأَحْوَالِ مِنْهُمْ
(٢)
، وَهَذَا بِعَيْنِهِ هُوَ مَذْهَبُ جُمْهُورِ الْمُثْبِتَةِ لِلصِّفَاتِ دُونَ الْأَحْوَالِ.
وَلَكِنَّ مَنْ أَثْبَتَ الْأَحْوَالَ مَعَ الصِّفَاتِ، كَالْقَاضِي أَبِي بَكْرٍ وَالْقَاضِي
(١) أ، ب: أَبُو الْحَسَنِ الْبَصْرِيُّ، وَالصَّوَابُ مَا أَثْبَتُّهُ. وَهُوَ أَبُو الْحُسَيْنِ مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ عَلِيٍّ الطَّيِّبُ الْبَصْرِيُّ، وَسَبَقَ الْكَلَامُ عَلَيْهِ ١/٣٩٥. وَانْظُرْ تَرْجَمَتَهُ أَيْضًا فِي: لِسَانِ الْمِيزَانِ ٥/٢٩٨ ; تَارِيخِ بَغْدَادَ ٣/١٠٠.
(٢) ذَكَرَ الشَّهْرَسْتَانِيُّ فِي " نِهَايَةِ الْإِقْدَامِ " ص [٠ - ٩] ٧٧: فَتَمَايُزُ الْمَفْهُومَاتِ وَالِاعْتِبَارَاتِ عِنْدَكُمْ وَتَمَايُزُ الْأَحْوَالِ عِنْدَ أَبِي هَاشِمٍ وَتَمَايُزُ الصِّفَاتِ عِنْدَ أَبِي الْحُسَيْنِ عَلَى وَتِيرَةٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَكُلُّكُمْ يُشِيرُ إِلَى مَدْلُولَاتٍ مُخْتَلِفَةِ الْخَوَاصِّ وَالْحَقَائِقِ ". وَانْظُرْ أَيْضًا نَفْسَ الْمَرْجِعِ، ص ١٧٥. وَيَقُولُ ابْنُ طَاهِرٍ فِي أُصُولِ الدِّينِ، ص [٠ - ٩] ٢: " وَعَلِمَ أَبُو هَاشِمِ بْنِ الْجُبَّائِيِّ فَسَادَ قَوْلِ أَبِيهِ بِأَنْ جَعَلَ نَفْسَ الْبَارِي عِلَّةً لِكَوْنِهِ عَالِمًا وَقَادِرًا، فَخَالَفَ أَبَاهُ وَزَعَمَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَالِمٌ كَوْنَهُ عَلَى حَالٍ، قَادِرٌ لِكَوْنِهِ عَلَى حَالٍ، وَزَعَمَ أَنَّ لِكَوْنِهِ عَالِمًا بِكُلِّ مَعْلُومٍ حَالًا دُونَ الْحَالِ الَّتِي لِأَجْلِهَا كَانَ عَالِمًا بِالْمَعْلُومِ الْآخَرِ. . . إِلَخْ) وَانْظُرِ الْمِلَلَ وَالنِّحَلَ ١/٧٧.