Minhaj as-Sunnah - Ibn Taimiya - (2/168)

Minhaj as-SunnahIbn Taimiya

you are told (1):

“If by your statement, ‘They are other than Him,’ you mean that they are separate from Him, that is false (2). But if you mean that they are not identical with Him, you are told (3): If an attribute is not identical with the one characterized by it, what is objectionable about that?”

If you then say:

“He depends upon them,”

it is said:

“By ‘dependence,’ do you mean that He depends upon an agent to bring Him into being, or upon a substrate in which He inheres? Or do you mean that He necessarily entails them, so that He exists only while characterized by them?

(4 If you mean the former, this is false; but if you mean the latter, it is said: What is objectionable about that?

And if you say:

‘They depend upon Him’ 4) (4),

it is said:

“Do you mean that they depend upon an agent who originates them, or (5) upon a substrate in which they inhere?

As for the latter, what is objectionable about it? As for the former, it is false (6), for the possessor of an inseparable attribute is not its agent.

And if you say:

‘He is its necessitating cause, its cause, or the ground requiring it,’

then if the attribute is necessary, what is necessary cannot be an effect; moreover, this would entail a plurality of necessary entities—namely, the attribute and the one characterized by it. But if it is possible in itself, what is possible in itself does not exist

(1) N reads: “to them.” (2) N and M read: “… from Him, it is false.” (3) “For you” is omitted from A and B. (4) The passage between markers (4–4) is omitted only from B. (5) N and M read: “or.” (6) A and B read: “As for the first, it is false.”

قِيلَ لَكُمْ (١) : إِنْ أَرَدْتُمْ بِقَوْلِكُمْ: " هِيَ غَيْرُهُ " أَنَّهَا مُبَايِنَةٌ لَهُ، فَذَلِكَ بَاطِلٌ (٢) . وَإِنْ أَرَدْتُمْ أَنَّهَا لَيْسَتْ إِيَّاهُ، قِيلَ لَكُمْ (٣) : وَإِذَا لَمْ تَكُنِ الصِّفَةُ هِيَ الْمَوْصُوفَ فَأَيُّ مَحْذُورٍ فِي هَذَا؟ فَإِذَا قُلْتُمْ: هُوَ مُفْتَقِرٌ إِلَيْهَا. قِيلَ: أَتُرِيدُونَ بِالِافْتِقَارِ أَنَّهُ مُفْتَقِرٌ إِلَى فَاعِلٍ يَفْعَلُهُ، أَوْ مَحَلٍّ يَقْبَلُهُ؟ أَمْ تُرِيدُونَ أَنَّهُ مُسْتَلْزِمٌ لَهَا فَلَا يَكُونُ مَوْجُودًا إِلَّا وَهُوَ مُتَّصِفٌ بِهَا؟ (٤ فَإِنْ أَرَدْتُمُ الْأَوَّلَ، كَانَ هَذَا بَاطِلًا، وَإِنْ أَرَدْتُمُ الثَّانِي، قِيلَ: وَأَيُّ مَحْذُورٍ فِي هَذَا؟ وَإِنْ قُلْتُمْ: هِيَ مُفْتَقِرَةٌ إِلَيْهِ ٤) (٤) . قِيلَ: أَتُرِيدُونَ أَنَّهَا مُفْتَقِرَةٌ إِلَى فَاعِلٍ يُبْدِعُهَا، أَوْ (٥) إِلَى مَحَلٍّ تَكُونُ مَوْصُوفَةً بِهِ؟ أَمَّا الثَّانِي فَأَيُّ مَحْذُورٍ فِيهِ؟ وَأَمَّا الْأَوَّلُ فَهُوَ بَاطِلٌ (٦) ، إِذِ الصِّفَةُ اللَّازِمَةُ لِلْمَوْصُوفِ لَا يَكُونُ فَاعِلًا لَهَا. وَإِنْ قُلْتُمْ: هُوَ مُوجِبٌ لَهَا، أَوْ عِلَّةٌ لَهَا، أَوْ مُقْتَضٍ لَهَا، فَالصِّفَةُ إِنْ كَانَتْ وَاجِبَةً، فَالْوَاجِبُ لَا يَكُونُ مَعْلُولًا، وَيَلْزَمُ تَعَدُّدُ الْوَاجِبِ وَهُوَ الصِّفَةُ وَالْمَوْصُوفُ ; وَإِنْ كَانَتْ مُمْكِنَةً بِنَفْسِهَا، فَالْمُمْكِنُ بِنَفْسِهِ لَا يُوجَدُ

(١) ن: لَهُمْ. (٢) ن، م:. . لَهُ فَبَاطِلٌ. (٣) لَكُمْ: سَاقِطَةٌ مِنْ (أ) ، (ب) . (٤) (٤ - ٤) : سَاقِطٌ مِنْ (ب) فَقَطْ. (٥) ن، م: أَمْ. (٦) أ، ب: وَأَمَّا الْأَوَّلُ فَبَاطِلٌ.