Part One
The creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah in summary
First Issue: The Words Maḥabbah, Riḍā, Ghaḍab, Ḍaḥik and ʿAjab in the Language
Maḥabbah (مَحَبَّة) is from the root ḥāʾ–bāʾ, whose meaning is attachment and constancy; love is the inclination of the one who loves towards the beloved and his holding to him. Riḍā (رِضًا) is from rāʾ–ḍād–wāw, the opposite of displeasure: contentment with a thing and acceptance of it. Ghaḍab (غَضَب) is from ghayn–ḍād–bāʾ, whose meaning is severity and strength; anger is the opposite of pleasure. Ḍaḥik (ضَحِك) is the opposite of weeping, the showing of joy. ʿAjab (عَجَب) is the regard of something that departs from the usual, either in excellence or in wrongness.
These words have their known meanings in the Arabic language, and Allah addressed the Arabs with them. When they are attributed to Allah, they are understood as befits Him: His love is not the love of a creature who needs the beloved, His anger is not a boiling of the blood, His laughter is not the laughter of a creature, and His wonder is not the wonder of one who did not know. The meaning is known; the how is not.
Second Issue: The Creed of Ahl al-Sunnah in These Attributes
Ahl al-Sunnah affirm that Allah loves and is loved; that He is pleased and angry; that He laughs and wonders, as the Book and the authentic Sunnah state. These are attributes of action, related to His will: He loves the believers when they obey Him, is pleased with them when they do what pleases Him, is angry with the disbelievers when they provoke Him, and laughs at what He wills of His servants' deeds. They are real attributes, not the will to reward or punish, and not the reward and punishment themselves.
The later schools interpret all of them. The love becomes the will to reward, the anger the will to punish, the pleasure the reward, the laughter the showing of favour or the uncovering of the reward. These interpretations empty the texts of their meanings, and they come from one root: the claim that whatever subsists in Allah by His will is an event, and that events cannot subsist in Him, the root of the Jahmiyyah, answered in the chapter on the volitional attributes.
Part Two
The texts of the Qurʾān and the Sunnah
Third Issue: Love, Pleasure and Anger in the Book of Allah
Allah, the Exalted, said in Sūrat al-Māʾidah:
O you who believe, whoever of you turns back from his religion — Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him, humble towards the believers, mighty against the disbelievers, striving in the way of Allah and not fearing the blame of a critic. That is the favour of Allah; He gives it to whom He wills. And Allah is All-Encompassing, Knowing.
Sūrat al-Māʾidah, 5:54 Read the verse (opens in a new tab)
Allah loves them, and they love Him. The verse affirms two loves: His love for them, and theirs for Him. Whoever interprets His love as the will to reward has to interpret their love for Him in the same way, and no one says that the believers' love of Allah is their will to be rewarded by Him.
And He said in Sūrat Āl ʿImrān:
Say: If you love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
Sūrat Āl ʿImrān, 3:31 Read the verse (opens in a new tab)
The verse makes following the Messenger ﷺ the sign of the servant's love, and the love of Allah its fruit: Allah will love you, and forgive you. The love and the forgiveness are mentioned separately; the love is not the forgiveness, which is its result.
And He said in Sūrat al-Bayyinah:
Their reward with their Lord is gardens of perpetual residence beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein for ever. Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him. That is for whoever fears his Lord.
Sūrat al-Bayyinah, 98:8 Read the verse (opens in a new tab)
Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him. The reward was mentioned first, gardens of perpetual residence, and then the pleasure, separately. The pleasure is not the gardens; it is the greatest of what they are given.
And He said in Sūrat al-Nisāʾ:
And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, abiding therein; and Allah is angry with him, has cursed him and has prepared for him a tremendous punishment.
Sūrat al-Nisāʾ, 4:93 Read the verse (opens in a new tab)
Anger with a killer in one verse, and anger with the hypocrites and mushrikūn in another.
And He said in Sūrat al-Fatḥ:
And that He may punish the hypocrite men and hypocrite women and the mushrik men and mushrik women, who assume about Allah an assumption of evil. Upon them is a misfortune of evil; Allah is angry with them, has cursed them and has prepared for them Hell — and evil it is as a destination.
Sūrat al-Fatḥ, 48:6 Read the verse (opens in a new tab)
Allah is angry with him, has cursed him and has prepared for him a tremendous punishment. The anger, the curse and the punishment are three things joined by “and”; the anger is not the punishment, for the punishment is mentioned after it as something prepared.
Fourth Issue: Laughter and Wonder in the Sunnah of the Messenger ﷺ
Al-Bukhārī reported in his Ṣaḥīḥ from Abū Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Yūsuf narrated to us: Mālik informed us, from Abū al-Zinād, from al-Aʿraj, from Abū Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Allah laughs at two men, one of whom kills the other, and both enter Paradise: this one fights in the way of Allah and is killed; then Allah turns in forgiveness to the killer, and he too is martyred.”
al-Bukhārī, al-Ṣaḥīḥ (al-Sulṭāniyyah) 4/23–24, no. 2826, from Abū Hurayrah
Source, chain and authenticity
Authentic: al-Bukhārī (2826) through Mālik, from Abū al-Zinād, from al-Aʿraj, from Abū Hurayrah; and Muslim (1890). Mālik, from Abū al-Zinād, from al-Aʿraj, from Abū Hurayrah is among the soundest chains of the people of Madīnah.
Allah laughs at two men, the killer and the killed, both of whom enter Paradise: the first was martyred in the way of Allah, and the second repented and was martyred afterwards. The laughter is at the wonder of the decree, that the one who killed a martyr should himself become a martyr and join him.
Al-Bukhārī reported in his Ṣaḥīḥ from Abū Hurayrah, in the tafsīr of Sūrat al-Ḥashr:
Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Kathīr narrated to me: Abū Usāmah narrated to us: Fuḍayl ibn Ghazwān narrated to us: Abū Ḥāzim al-Ashjaʿī narrated to us, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: A man came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said: O Messenger of Allah, hardship has struck me. He sent to his wives, and found nothing with them. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Is there not a man who will host this one tonight — may Allah have mercy on him? A man of the Anṣār stood and said: I, O Messenger of Allah. He went to his family and said to his wife: The guest of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ — do not hold anything back from him. She said: By Allah, I have nothing but the children's food. He said: When the children want their supper, put them to sleep, and come, put out the lamp, and we will fold our stomachs tonight. She did so. Then the man went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the morning, and he said: “Allah, Mighty and Majestic, wondered at” — or: “laughed at — so-and-so and so-and-so.” And Allah, Mighty and Majestic, revealed: {and they prefer others above themselves, even though they are in need}.
al-Bukhārī, al-Ṣaḥīḥ (al-Sulṭāniyyah) 6/148, no. 4889, from Abū Hurayrah
Source, chain and authenticity
Authentic: al-Bukhārī (4889, and 3798) and Muslim (2054), through Fuḍayl ibn Ghazwān, from Abū Ḥāzim Salmān al-Ashjaʿī, from Abū Hurayrah.
The Anṣārī and his wife put out the lamp so that their guest would not see that they were not eating, and went to sleep hungry for the guest of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. In the morning the Prophet ﷺ told them that Allah had wondered, or laughed, at what they did, and the verse was revealed in their praise. The wonder and the laughter are attributed to Allah, at a particular deed, at a particular time.
Part Three
The statements of the Salaf
Fifth Issue: Imām Aḥmad on the Laughter, and His Judgement on Those Who Interpret It
Al-Qāḍī Abū Yaʿlā reported in Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt from Imām Aḥmad:
٢١٢ - وقال المروذي: سألت أبا عبد الله عن عبد الله التيمي فقال صدوقٌ، وقد كتبت عنه من الرقايق ولكن حُكي عنه أنه ذكر حديث الضحك فقال: مثل الزرع الضحك، وهذا كلام الجهمية (¬٢)، قلت: ما تقول في حديث ابن جريج عن أبي الزبير عن جابر "فضحك حتى بدت" قال: هذا يشنَّع به، قلت فقد حدَّثت به قال: ما أعلم أني حدثت له إلا محمد بن داود يعني المصيصي وذلك أنَّه طلب إليَّ فيه، قلت: أفليس العلماء تلقته بالقبول؟ قال: بلى.
He said, in the narration of Ḥanbal: Allah laughs, and we do not know how that is, except by affirming the Messenger ﷺ … [a gap in the text] … the Qurʾān. And al-Marrūdhī said: I asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh about ʿAbd Allāh al-Taymī, and he said: truthful; I wrote from him on the softening of hearts; but it was related of him that he mentioned the ḥadīth of the laughter and said: like the crops laughing — and this is the speech of the Jahmiyyah. I said: What do you say about the ḥadīth of Ibn Jurayj, from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir: “He laughed until …”? He said: this is used to make an outcry. I said: But you narrated it? He said: I do not know that I narrated it to anyone except Muḥammad ibn Dāwūd, that is, al-Miṣṣīṣī, and that was because he asked me for it. I said: Have the scholars not received it with acceptance? He said: Yes.
Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt (Ghirās), p. 260, nos. 211–212
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٢١١ - قال في رواية حنبل: يضحك الله، ولا نعلم كيف ذلك إلا بتصديقها الرسول ﷺ ...... (¬١) القرآن.
٢١٢ - وقال المروذي: سألت أبا عبد الله عن عبد الله التيمي فقال صدوقٌ، وقد كتبت عنه من الرقايق ولكن حُكي عنه أنه ذكر حديث الضحك فقال: مثل الزرع الضحك، وهذا كلام الجهمية (¬٢)، قلت: ما تقول في حديث ابن جريج عن أبي الزبير عن جابر "فضحك حتى بدت" قال: هذا يشنَّع به، قلت فقد حدَّثت به قال: ما أعلم أني حدثت له إلا محمد بن داود يعني المصيصي وذلك أنَّه طلب إليَّ فيه، قلت: أفليس العلماء تلقته بالقبول؟ قال: بلى.
٢١٣ - قال أبو بكر الخلال رأيت في كتاب لهرون المستملي أنه قال لأبي عبد الله حديث جابر بن عبد الله "ضحك ربنا حتى بدت لهواته أو قال أضراسه ممن سمعته" قال نا روح قال رسول الله ﷺ "يضحك حتى بدت لهواته أو قال أضراسه".
فقد نصَّ على صحة هذه الأحاديث والأخذ بظاهرها والإنكار على فسرَّها، ولك أنه ليس في حمله على ظاهره ما يُحيل صفاته ولا يخرجها
Imām Aḥmad affirmed the laughter: Allah laughs, and we do not know how that is, except that we affirm the Messenger ﷺ. And when he was told that a narrator had explained the laughter as “like the crops laughing”, that is, their blooming, he said: this is the speech of the Jahmiyyah. The interpretation of the laughter as favour or the appearance of reward is the same in kind: it is the speech of the Jahmiyyah, whoever says it. And he confirmed that the scholars received the ḥadīths of the laughter with acceptance.
Part Four
The imams after them
Sixth Issue: The Imams After Them
The sons of Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb and Shaykh Ḥamad ibn Nāṣir ibn Muʿammar said, answering a questioner, in al-Durar al-Saniyyah:
الأعضاء والجوارح، تعالى الله عن ذلك علوا كبيرا.
فيحصل بذلك: إثبات ما وصف به نفسه في كتابه، وفي سنة رسوله ﷺ؛ ويحصل أيضا نفي التشبيه والتكييف في صفاته، ويحصل أيضا ترك التأويل، والتحريف، المؤدي إلى التعطيل، ويحصل أيضا إثبات الصفات على ما يليق بجلال الله وعظمته، لا على ما نعقله نحن من صفات المخلوقين، وأما الأشاعرة فيؤلون النصوص الواردة في كتاب الله وسنة رسوله، فيؤلون الاستواء بالاستيلاء، والنّزول بنُزول الأمر، واليدين بالقدرتين والنعمتين، والقدم بقدم صدق، وأمثال ذلك.
As for Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah, they describe Allah with everything with which He described Himself, as befits His majesty and greatness. They affirm the Descent, as the authentic Sunnah came with it from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that he said: “Our Lord descends every night to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains” to the end. They affirm the attribute of the two Hands as befits His majesty and greatness, and likewise the attribute of the noble Face, as befits His majesty and greatness, and likewise the Laughter that the Sunnah came with, the Wonder, the Anger, the Pleasure, the two Handfuls and the Fingers. They describe Allah with what He described Himself with or what His Messenger described Him with, and from all of that they understand only what befits Allah and His greatness, not what befits creatures of limbs and organs — exalted is Allah far above that. By this is attained the affirmation of what He described Himself with in His Book and in the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ; and also the negation of likening and of asking how in His attributes; and also the abandonment of taʾwīl and taḥrīf that lead to taʿṭīl; and also the affirmation of the attributes as befits the majesty and greatness of Allah, not according to what we understand of the attributes of creatures. As for the Ashʿarīs, they interpret the texts that came in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger: they interpret the Istiwāʾ as conquering (istīlāʾ), the Descent as the descent of the command, the two Hands as the two powers and the two blessings, the Foot as a “foot of truthfulness”, and the like.
The sons of Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb and Shaykh Ḥamad ibn Nāṣir ibn Muʿammar, in al-Durar al-Saniyyah, Kitāb al-Asmāʾ wa-l-Ṣifāt, 3/25–26
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والسنوسي قد خالف أئمة السنة في هذه المسألة ; وعبارته في أم البراهين قال: ومما تستحيل في صفته تعالى عشرون صفة، فذكر منها: وأن يكون في جهة ; قال الشارح لها، وهو محمد بن عمر التلمساني: هذا أيضا من أنواع المماثلة المستحيلة، وهي كونه تعالى في جهة، فلا يقال: إنه تعالى فوق العرش ; فقد تبين لك مخالفته السلف الصالح، ومنها: مسألة الصفات، فإن السنوسي أثبت الصفات السبع فقط.
وأما أهل السنة والجماعة فيصفون الله بجميع ما وصف به نفسه، كما يليق بجلاله وعظمته، فيثبتون النّزول، كما وردت بذلك السنة الصحيحة عن رسول الله ﷺ أنه قال: " ينْزل ربنا كل ليلة إلى سماء الدنيا، حين يبقى ثلث الليل "١ إلخ، ويثبتون صفة اليدين، كما يليق بجلاله وعظمته، وكذلك صفة الوجه الكريم، كما يليق بجلاله وعظمته، وكذلك الضحك الذي وردت به السنة، والتعجب، والغضب، والرضى، والقبضتان، والأصابع، فيصفون الله بما وصف به نفسه، أو وصفه به رسوله، ولا يفهمون من جميع ذلك إلا ما يليق بالله وعظمته، لا ما يليق بالمخلوقات من
الأعضاء والجوارح، تعالى الله عن ذلك علوا كبيرا.
فيحصل بذلك: إثبات ما وصف به نفسه في كتابه، وفي سنة رسوله ﷺ؛ ويحصل أيضا نفي التشبيه والتكييف في صفاته، ويحصل أيضا ترك التأويل، والتحريف، المؤدي إلى التعطيل، ويحصل أيضا إثبات الصفات على ما يليق بجلال الله وعظمته، لا على ما نعقله نحن من صفات المخلوقين، وأما الأشاعرة فيؤلون النصوص الواردة في كتاب الله وسنة رسوله، فيؤلون الاستواء بالاستيلاء، والنّزول بنُزول الأمر، واليدين بالقدرتين والنعمتين، والقدم بقدم صدق، وأمثال ذلك.
وأما أهل السنة والجماعة فيصفون الله بهذه الصفات، وغيرها، مما وصف به نفسه، ولا يحرفون الكلم عن مواضعه، ولا يكيفون، ولا يشبهون; والكلام عندهم في الصفات فرع على الكلام في الذات، فكما أن ذاته لا تشبه ذوات خلقه، فكذلك صفاته لا تشبه صفات خلقه، فإذا ثبت وصفه تعالى بالصفات السبع، على ما يليق بجلاله، فكذلك باقي الصفات.
وأما مسألة الحرف والصوت، فتساق هذا المساق، فإن الله تعالى: قد تكلم بالقرآن المجيد، وبجميع حروفه، فقال: "الم"، وقال: "المص"، وقال: " ق "؛ وكذلك جاء في الحديث: " فينادي يوم القيامة بصوت يسمعه من بعد، كما يسمعه من قرب "١، وفي الحديث: " لا أقول الم حرف، ولكن
They named the Laughter that the Sunnah came with, the Wonder, the Anger and the Pleasure among what Ahl al-Sunnah affirm as befits the majesty of Allah, understanding from them only what befits Him and not what befits creatures; and they set against them the taʾwīl of the Ashʿarīs.
Part Five
Principles drawn from the evidence
Seventh Issue: The Rules of These Attributes
The first rule: love, pleasure, anger, laughter and wonder are real attributes of Allah, affirmed as the texts state them, without likening and without asking how.
The second rule: they are attributes of action, related to His will and to their causes. Allah loves the doers of good, is pleased with the believers, is angry with the disbelievers, at the time of their deeds; the texts tie them to their causes.
The third rule: the love of Allah is distinct from His will. Allah wills, by His will that brings things into being, what He does not love, such as disbelief and disobedience; and He loves what He commanded, whether it happens or not. Whoever makes the love the will has to say that Allah loves the disbelief He willed, which is the error that the distinction between the two wills removes.
The fourth rule: the anger of Allah is distinct from His punishment. The anger is His attribute; the punishment is its result, created and separate from Him.
Part Six
The claims of the opponents and their refutation
The later Ashʿarīs and Māturīdīs: “love is the will to reward, anger the will to punish, laughter the showing of favour”
The claim
Said by al-Zamakhsharī the Muʿtazilī, by Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, and by the later Ashʿarīs and Māturīdīs; before them by the Jahmiyyah
“Love, pleasure and anger are emotions of the soul, which are impossible for Allah. So His love is His will to reward, His anger His will to punish, and His laughter the showing of His favour or the uncovering of the reward.”
Its origin The Jahmiyyah: Imām Aḥmad called the interpretation of the laughter “the speech of the Jahmiyyah”.
The response
Al-Zamakhsharī said in al-Kashshāf:
If you say: what is the meaning of the anger of Allah? I say: it is the will to take vengeance on the disobedient, and the sending down of punishment on them, and that He does with them what a king does when he is angry with one under his hand.
al-Zamakhsharī, al-Kashshāf 1/17, on al-Fātiḥah 1:7
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هم النصارى لقوله تعالى: (قَدْ ضَلُّوا مِنْ قَبْلُ) . فإن قلت: ما معنى غضب اللَّه؟ قلت: هو إرادة الانتقام «١» من العصاة، وإنزال العقوبة بهم، وأن يفعل بهم ما يفعله الملك إذا غضب على من تحت يده- نعوذ باللَّه من غضبه، ونسأله رضاه ورحمته. فإن قلت: أى فرق بين (عليهم) الأولى و (عليهم) الثانية؟ قلت: الأولى محلها النصب على المفعولية، والثانية محلها الرفع على الفاعلية.
فإن قلت: لم دخلت لَا في وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ؟ قلت: لما في- غير- من معنى النفي، كأنه قيل:
لا المغضوب عليهم ولا الضالين. وتقول: أنا زيداً غير ضارب، مع امتناع قولك: أنا زيداً مثل ضارب لأنه بمنزلة قولك أنا زيداً لا ضارب. وعن عمر وعلى رضى اللَّه عنهما أنهما قرءا: وغير الضالين. وقرأ أيوب السختياني: ولا الضألين- بالهمز، كما قرأ عمرو بن عبيد: (ولا جأن) وهذه لغة من جدّ في الهرب من التقاء الساكنين. ومنها ما حكاه أبو زيد من قولهم: شأبة، ودأبة.
آمين: صوت سمى به الفعل الذي هو استجب، كما أنّ «رويد، وحيهل، وهلم» أصوات سميت بها الأفعال التي هي «أمهل، وأسرع، وأقبل» . وعن ابن عباس: سألت رسول اللَّه ﷺ عن معنى آمين «٢» فقال: «افعل» وفيه لغتان: مدّ ألفه، وقصرها. قال:
وَيَرْحَمُ اللَّهُ عَبْداً قالَ آمِينَا «٣»
Al-Zamakhsharī the Muʿtazilī has turned anger into punishment. The Ashʿarī al-Rāzī uses almost the same words.
Al-Rāzī said in Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb, in the same words:
As for the anger of Allah, it is the will to take vengeance.
al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb 3/534, on al-Baqarah 2:61
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أَمَّا الْوَجْهُ الثَّانِي: فَالْجَوَابُ عَنْهُ أَنَّا لَا نُنَازِعُ فِي أَنَّ الْمِلْكَ مُطْلَقٌ لِلتَّصَرُّفِ وَلَكِنْ قَدْ يُتْرَكُ هَذَا الْأَصْلُ لِعَارِضٍ كَالْمَرْهُونِ وَالْمُسْتَأْجَرِ، فَنَحْنُ تَرْكَنَا هَذَا الْأَصْلَ لِمَا قَدَّمْنَاهُ مِنَ الدَّلَالَةِ.
أَمَّا قَوْلُهُ تَعَالَى: وَضُرِبَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ الذِّلَّةُ فَالْمَعْنَى جُعِلَتِ الذِّلَّةُ مُحِيطَةً بِهِمْ حَتَّى مُشْتَمِلَةً عَلَيْهِمْ فَهُمْ فِيهَا كَمَنْ يَكُونُ فِي الْقُبَّةِ الْمَضْرُوبَةِ أَوْ أُلْصِقَتْ بِهِمْ حَتَّى لَزِمَتْهُمْ ضَرْبَةُ لَازِمٍ كَمَا يُضْرَبُ الطِّينُ عَلَى الْحَائِطِ فَيَلْزَمُهُ وَالْأَقْرَبُ فِي الذِّلَّةِ أَنْ يَكُونَ الْمُرَادُ مِنْهَا مَا يَجْرِي مَجْرَى الِاسْتِحْقَاقِ كَقَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى فِيمَنْ يُحَارِبُ وَيُفْسِدُ: ذلِكَ لَهُمْ خِزْيٌ فِي الدُّنْيا فَأَمَّا مَنْ يَقُولُ الْمُرَادُ بِهِ الْجِزْيَةُ خَاصَّةً على ما قَالَ: حَتَّى يُعْطُوا الْجِزْيَةَ عَنْ يَدٍ وَهُمْ صاغِرُونَ [التَّوْبَةِ: ٢٩] فَقَوْلُهُ بَعِيدٌ لِأَنَّ الْجِزْيَةَ مَا كَانَتْ مَضْرُوبَةً عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ أَوَّلِ الْأَمْرِ.
أَمَّا قَوْلُهُ تَعَالَى: وَالْمَسْكَنَةُ فَالْمُرَادُ بِهِ الْفَقْرُ وَالْفَاقَةُ وَتَشْدِيدُ الْمِحْنَةِ، فَهَذَا الْجِنْسُ يَجُوزُ أَنْ يَكُونَ كَالْعُقُوبَةِ، وَمِنَ الْعُلَمَاءِ مَنْ عَدَّ هَذَا مِنْ بَابِ الْمُعْجِزَاتِ لِأَنَّهُ ﵇ أَخْبَرَ عَنْ ضَرْبِ الذِّلَّةِ وَالْمَسْكَنَةِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَوَقَعَ الْأَمْرُ كَذَلِكَ فَكَانَ هَذَا إِخْبَارًا عَنِ الْغَيْبِ فَيَكُونُ مُعْجِزًا.
أَمَّا قوله تعالى: وَباؤُ ففيه وجوه. أحدها: البوء الرجوع، فقوله: باؤُ أَيْ رَجَعُوا وَانْصَرَفُوا بِذَلِكَ وَلَا يُقَالُ بَاءَ إلا بشر. وثانيها: البوء التسوية. فقوله: باؤُ أي استوى عليهم غضب الله. قال الزجاج.
وثالثها: باؤ أَيِ اسْتَحَقُّوا، وَمِنْهُ قَوْلُهُ تَعَالَى: إِنِّي أُرِيدُ أَنْ تَبُوءَ بِإِثْمِي وَإِثْمِكَ [الْمَائِدَةِ: ٢٩] أَيْ تَسْتَحِقُّ الْإِثْمَيْنِ جَمِيعًا. وَأَمَّا غَضَبُ اللَّهِ فَهُوَ إِرَادَةُ الِانْتِقَامِ.
أَمَّا قَوْلُهُ تَعَالَى: ذلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كانُوا يَكْفُرُونَ بِآياتِ اللَّهِ فَهُوَ عِلَّةٌ لِمَا تَقَدَّمَ ذِكْرُهُ مِنْ ضَرْبِ الذِّلَّةِ وَالْمَسْكَنَةِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَإِلْحَاقِ الْغَضَبِ بِهِمْ. قَالَتِ الْمُعْتَزِلَةُ: لَوْ كَانَ الْكُفْرُ حَصَلَ فِيهِمْ بِخَلْقِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى كَمَا حَصَلَتِ الذِّلَّةُ وَالْمَسْكَنَةُ فِيهِمْ بِخَلْقِهِ لَمَا كَانَ جَعْلُ أحدهما جزاء الثاني أَوْلَى مِنَ الْعَكْسِ، وَجَوَابُهُ الْمُعَارَضَةُ بِالْعِلْمِ وَالدَّاعِي، وَأَمَّا حَقِيقَةُ الْكُفْرِ فَقَدْ تَقَدَّمَ الْقَوْلُ فِيهَا.
أَمَّا قَوْلُهُ تَعَالَى: وَيَقْتُلُونَ النَّبِيِّينَ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ فَالْمَعْنَى أَنَّهُمْ يَسْتَحِقُّونَ مَا تَقَدَّمَ لِأَجْلِ هَذِهِ الْأَفْعَالِ أَيْضًا وَفِيهِ سُؤَالَاتٌ.
السُّؤَالُ الْأَوَّلُ: أَنَّ قَوْلَهُ تَعَالَى: يَكْفُرُونَ دَخَلَ تَحْتَهُ قَتْلُ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ فَلِمَ أَعَادَ ذِكْرَهُ مَرَّةً أُخْرَى؟ الْجَوَابُ:
الْمَذْكُورُ هَاهُنَا الْكُفْرُ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ، وَذَلِكَ هُوَ الْجَهْلُ وَالْجَحْدُ بِآيَاتِهِ فَلَا يَدْخُلُ تَحْتَهُ قَتْلُ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ.
السُّؤَالُ الثَّانِي: لِمَ قَالَ: بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ وَقَتْلُ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ لَا يَكُونُ إِلَّا عَلَى هَذَا الْوَجْهِ؟ الْجَوَابُ مِنْ وَجْهَيْنِ:الْأَوَّلُ: أَنَّ الْإِتْيَانَ بِالْبَاطِلِ قَدْ يَكُونُ حَقًّا لِأَنَّ الْآتِيَ بِهِ اعْتَقَدَهُ حَقًّا لِشُبْهَةٍ وَقَعَتْ فِي قَلْبِهِ وَقَدْ يَأْتِي بِهِ مَعَ عِلْمِهِ بِكَوْنِهِ بَاطِلًا، وَلَا شَكَّ أَنَّ الثَّانِيَ أَقْبَحُ فَقَوْلُهُ: وَيَقْتُلُونَ النَّبِيِّينَ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ أَيْ أَنَّهُمْ قَتَلُوهُمْ مِنْ غَيْرِ أَنْ كان
So the Ashʿarī commentator and the Muʿtazilī commentator give one definition in one wording. Watch what happens to it when al-Rāzī meets a ḥadīth:
He said on “your Lord has written mercy upon Himself”, after quoting “My mercy has preceded My anger”:
قُلْنَا: الْمُرَادُ بِهَذَا السَّبْقِ سَبْقُ الْكَثْرَةِ لَا سَبْقُ الزَّمَانِ.
If it is said: mercy is the will for good, and anger is the will to take vengeance; and the apparent sense of this report requires that one of the two wills precede the other, and what is preceded by another is originated, so this would require that the will of Allah, the Exalted, be originated. We say: what is meant by this precedence is a precedence of quantity, not a precedence of time.
al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb 12/489, on al-Anʿām 6:12
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وَاعْلَمْ أَنَّهُ جَاءَتِ الْأَخْبَارُ الْكَثِيرَةُ فِي سِعَةِ رَحْمَةِ اللَّه تَعَالَى،
عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ أَنَّهُ قَالَ: «لَمَّا فَرَغَ اللَّه مِنَ الْخَلْقِ كَتَبَ كِتَابًا أَنَّ رَحْمَتِي سَبَقَتْ غَضَبِي» .
فَإِنْ قِيلَ: الرَّحْمَةُ هِيَ إِرَادَةُ الْخَيْرِ، وَالْغَضَبُ هُوَ إِرَادَةُ الِانْتِقَامِ، وَظَاهِرُ هَذَا الْخَبَرِ يَقْتَضِي كَوْنَ إِحْدَى الْإِرَادَتَيْنِ سَابِقَةً عَلَى الْأُخْرَى، وَالْمَسْبُوقُ بِالْغَيْرِ مُحْدَثٌ، فَهَذَا يَقْتَضِي كَوْنَ إِرَادَةِ اللَّه تَعَالَى مُحْدَثَةً.
قُلْنَا: الْمُرَادُ بِهَذَا السَّبْقِ سَبْقُ الْكَثْرَةِ لَا سَبْقُ الزَّمَانِ. وَعَنْ سَلْمَانَ أَنَّهُ تَعَالَى لَمَّا خَلَقَ السَّمَاءَ وَالْأَرْضَ خَلَقَ مِائَةَ رَحْمَةٍ، كُلُّ رَحْمَةٍ مَلْءُ مَا بَيْنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ، فَعِنْدَهُ تِسْعٌ وَتِسْعُونَ رَحْمَةً، وَقَسَّمَ رَحْمَةً وَاحِدَةً بَيْنَ الْخَلَائِقِ، فَبِهَا يَتَعَاطَفُونَ وَيَتَرَاحَمُونَ، فَإِذَا كَانَ آخِرُ الْأَمْرِ قَصَرَهَا عَلَى الْمُتَّقِينَ.
أَمَّا قَوْلُهُ لَيَجْمَعَنَّكُمْ إِلى يَوْمِ الْقِيامَةِ فَفِيهِ أَبْحَاثٌ: الْأَوَّلُ: «اللَّامُ» فِي قَوْلِهِ لَيَجْمَعَنَّكُمْ لَامُ قَسَمٍ مُضْمَرٍ، وَالتَّقْدِيرُ: واللَّه لَيَجْمَعَنَّكُمْ.
الْبَحْثُ الثَّانِي: اخْتَلَفُوا فِي أَنَّ هَذَا الْكَلَامَ مُبْتَدَأٌ أَوْ مُتَعَلِّقٌ بِمَا قَبْلَهُ. فَقَالَ بَعْضُهُمْ إِنَّهُ كَلَامٌ مُبْتَدَأٌ، وَذَلِكَ لِأَنَّهُ تَعَالَى بَيَّنَ كَمَالَ إِلَهِيَّتِهِ بِقَوْلِهِ قُلْ لِمَنْ مَا فِي السَّماواتِ وَالْأَرْضِ قُلْ لِلَّهِ ثُمَّ بَيَّنَ تَعَالَى أَنَّهُ يَرْحَمُهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا بِالْإِمْهَالِ وَدَفْعِ عَذَابِ الِاسْتِئْصَالِ، وَبَيَّنَ أَنَّهُ يَجْمَعُهُمْ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ، فَقَوْلُهُ كَتَبَ عَلى نَفْسِهِ الرَّحْمَةَ أَنَّهُ يُمْهِلُهُمْ وَقَوْلُهُ لَيَجْمَعَنَّكُمْ إِلى يَوْمِ الْقِيامَةِ أَنَّهُ لَا يُمْهِلُهُمْ بَلْ يَحْشُرُهُمْ وَيُحَاسِبُهُمْ عَلَى كُلِّ مَا فَعَلُوا.
وَالْقَوْلُ الثَّانِي: أَنَّهُ مُتَعَلِّقٌ بِمَا قَبْلَهُ وَالتَّقْدِيرُ: كَتَبَ رَبُّكُمْ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ الرَّحْمَةَ. وَكَتَبَ رَبُّكُمْ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ لَيَجْمَعَنَّكُمْ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ.وَقِيلَ: إِنَّهُ لَمَّا قَالَ: كَتَبَ رَبُّكُمْ عَلى نَفْسِهِ الرَّحْمَةَ فَكَأَنَّهُ قِيلَ: وَمَا تِلْكَ الرَّحْمَةُ؟ فَقِيلَ: إِنَّهُ تَعَالَى لَيَجْمَعَنَّكُمْ إِلى يَوْمِ الْقِيامَةِ وَذَلِكَ لِأَنَّهُ لَوْلَا خَوْفُ الْعَذَابِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ لَحَصَلَ الْهَرَجُ وَالْمَرَجُ وَلَارْتَفَعَ الضَّبْطُ وَكَثُرَ الْخَبْطُ، فَصَارَ التَّهْدِيدُ بِيَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ مِنْ أَعْظَمِ أَسْبَابِ الرَّحْمَةِ فِي الدُّنْيَا، فَكَانَ قَوْلُهُ لَيَجْمَعَنَّكُمْ إِلى يَوْمِ الْقِيامَةِ كَالتَّفْسِيرِ لِقَوْلِهِ كَتَبَ رَبُّكُمْ عَلى نَفْسِهِ الرَّحْمَةَ.
He has made a problem out of the words of the Prophet ﷺ by his own definition, and he has solved it by changing the meaning of “preceded”. Had he said what the ḥadīth says, that there is a mercy and there is an anger, there would have been no problem.
Their argument is that love and anger in creatures are emotions: the boiling of the blood in anger, the inclination of the heart in love. But this is the love and anger of creatures. They affirm the will for Allah, while the will in creatures is the inclination of the soul towards a benefit or away from a harm; and they say: His will is not like ours. The same answer applies to love and anger: His love is not like ours, and His anger is not like ours. Whatever they say of the will, they must say of the love and the anger, and whatever they say against the love and the anger applies equally to the will.
And the texts themselves separate the love from the will. Allah wills the disbelief of the disbeliever by His will that brings things into being, and does not love it: He is not pleased with disbelief for His servants. If love were the will, then He would love what He willed, and love the disbelief that He decreed. Their interpretation leads them into what they themselves reject.
And the texts separate the anger from the punishment. Allah said: so when they angered Us, We took retribution from them; and: Allah is angry with him, has cursed him and has prepared for him a tremendous punishment. The anger comes first, and the retribution after it; the anger is one thing, the curse another and the punishment a third. To make the anger the will to punish is to make the verse say: so when they angered Us, We willed to punish them, We took retribution from them, which emptied the first statement of its meaning.
And the laughter that they make the showing of favour was named by Imām Aḥmad as the speech of the Jahmiyyah. The doctrine is the same doctrine; the judgement of the imam is on the doctrine, whatever school later carries it.
The general answer is the rule on which al-Tadmuriyyah is built: what is said of one Attribute is said of another. Ibn Taymiyyah addressed the very man who affirms the will and denies the anger:
He said in Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā:
مَيْلُ النَّفْسِ إلَى جَلْبِ مَنْفَعَةٍ أَوْ دَفْعِ مَضَرَّةٍ فَإِنْ قُلْت: هَذِهِ إرَادَةُ الْمَخْلُوقِ قِيلَ لَك: وَهَذَا غَضَبُ الْمَخْلُوقِ
It is said to him: there is no difference between what you have negated and what you have affirmed; rather, the saying on one of them is the saying on the other. If you say that His will is like the will of creatures, then likewise His love, His pleasure and His anger, and that is likening. And if you say that He has a will befitting Him, as the creature has a will befitting him, it is said to you: and likewise He has a love befitting Him, and the creature has a love befitting him; and He has a pleasure and an anger befitting Him, and the creature has a pleasure and an anger befitting him. And if you say that anger is the boiling of the blood of the heart in seeking vengeance, it is said to him: and will is the inclination of the soul to bring a benefit or repel a harm. If you say that this is the will of the creature, it is said to you: and that is the anger of the creature.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 3/17–18
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فَأَمَّا الْأَصْلَانِ: فَأَحَدُهُمَا أَنْ يُقَالَ:
الْقَوْلُ فِي بَعْضِ الصِّفَاتِ كَالْقَوْلِ فِي بَعْضٍ
فَإِنْ كَانَ الْمُخَاطَبُ مِمَّنْ يَقُولُ: بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ حَيٌّ بِحَيَاةِ عَلِيمٌ بِعِلْمِ قَدِيرٌ بِقُدْرَةِ سَمِيعٌ بِسَمْعِ بَصِيرٌ بِبَصَرِ مُتَكَلِّمٌ بِكَلَامِ مُرِيدٌ بِإِرَادَةِ وَيَجْعَلُ ذَلِكَ كُلَّهُ حَقِيقَةً وَيُنَازِعُ فِي مَحَبَّتِهِ وَرِضَاهُ وَغَضَبِهِ وَكَرَاهَتِهِ فَيَجْعَلُ ذَلِكَ مَجَازًا وَيُفَسِّرُهُ إمَّا بِالْإِرَادَةِ وَإِمَّا بِبَعْضِ الْمَخْلُوقَاتِ مِنْ النِّعَمِ وَالْعُقُوبَاتِ فَيُقَالُ لَهُ: لَا فَرْقَ بَيْنَ مَا نَفَيْتَهُ وَبَيْنَ مَا أَثْبَتَهُ بَلْ الْقَوْلُ فِي أَحَدِهِمَا كَالْقَوْلِ فِي الْآخَرِ؛ فَإِنْ قُلْت: إنَّ إرَادَتَهُ مِثْلُ إرَادَةِ الْمَخْلُوقِينَ فَكَذَلِكَ مَحَبَّتُهُ وَرِضَاهُ وَغَضَبُهُ وَهَذَا هُوَ التَّمْثِيلُ وَإِنْ قُلْت: إنَّ لَهُ إرَادَةً تَلِيقُ بِهِ؛ كَمَا أَنَّ لِلْمَخْلُوقِ إرَادَةً تَلِيقُ بِهِ قِيلَ لَك: وَكَذَلِكَ لَهُ مَحَبَّةٌ تَلِيقُ بِهِ وَلِلْمَخْلُوقِ مَحَبَّةٌ تَلِيقُ بِهِ وَلَهُ رِضًا وَغَضَبٌ يَلِيقُ بِهِ وَلِلْمَخْلُوقِ رِضًا وَغَضَبٌ يَلِيقُ بِهِ وَإِنْ قُلْت: الْغَضَبُ غَلَيَانُ دَمِ الْقَلْبِ لِطَلَبِ الِانْتِقَامِ فَيُقَالُ لَهُ: وَالْإِرَادَةُ
مَيْلُ النَّفْسِ إلَى جَلْبِ مَنْفَعَةٍ أَوْ دَفْعِ مَضَرَّةٍ فَإِنْ قُلْت: هَذِهِ إرَادَةُ الْمَخْلُوقِ قِيلَ لَك: وَهَذَا غَضَبُ الْمَخْلُوقِ وَكَذَلِكَ يَلْزَمُ الْقَوْلُ فِي كَلَامِهِ وَسَمْعِهِ وَبَصَرِهِ وَعِلْمِهِ وَقُدْرَتِهِ؛ إنْ نُفِيَ عَنْهُ الْغَضَبُ وَالْمَحَبَّةُ وَالرِّضَا وَنَحْوُ ذَلِكَ مِمَّا هُوَ مِنْ خَصَائِصِ الْمَخْلُوقِينَ؛ فَهَذَا مُنْتَفٍ عَنْ السَّمْعِ وَالْبَصَرِ وَالْكَلَامِ وَجَمِيعِ الصِّفَاتِ وَإِنْ قَالَ: أَنَّهُ لَا حَقِيقَةَ لِهَذَا إلَّا مَا يَخْتَصُّ بِالْمَخْلُوقِينَ؛ فَيَجِبُ نَفْيُهُ عَنْهُ قِيلَ لَهُ: وَهَكَذَا السَّمْعُ وَالْبَصَرُ وَالْكَلَامُ وَالْعِلْمُ وَالْقُدْرَةُ فَهَذَا الْمُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ بَعْضِ الصِّفَاتِ وَبَعْضٍ يُقَالُ لَهُ: فِيمَا نَفَاهُ كَمَا يَقُولُهُ هُوَ لِمُنَازِعِهِ فِيمَا أَثْبَتَهُ فَإِذَا قَالَ الْمُعْتَزِلِيُّ: لَيْسَ لَهُ إرَادَةٌ وَلَا كَلَامٌ قَائِمٌ بِهِ؛ لِأَنَّ هَذِهِ الصِّفَاتِ لَا تَقُومُ إلَّا بِالْمَخْلُوقَاتِ فَإِنَّهُ يُبَيِّنُ لِلْمُعْتَزِلِيِّ أَنَّ هَذِهِ الصِّفَاتِ يَتَّصِفُ بِهَا الْقَدِيمُ وَلَا تَكُونُ كَصِفَاتِ الْمُحْدَثَاتِ فَهَكَذَا يَقُولُ لَهُ الْمُثْبِتُونَ لِسَائِرِ الصِّفَاتِ مِنْ الْمَحَبَّةِ وَالرِّضَا وَنَحْوِ ذَلِكَ فَإِنْ قَالَ: تِلْكَ الصِّفَاتُ أَثْبَتَهَا بِالْعَقْلِ لِأَنَّ الْفِعْلَ الْحَادِثَ دَلَّ عَلَى الْقُدْرَةِ وَالتَّخْصِيصَ دَلَّ عَلَى الْإِرَادَةِ وَالْإِحْكَامَ دَلَّ عَلَى الْعِلْمِ وَهَذِهِ الصِّفَاتُ مُسْتَلْزِمَةٌ لِلْحَيَاةِ وَالْحَيُّ لَا يَخْلُو عَنْ السَّمْعِ وَالْبَصَرِ وَالْكَلَامِ أَوْ ضِدِّ ذَلِكَ
Ibn Taymiyyah answered on anger. Al-Dārimī, long before him, answered the same method when it was used on the Laughter.
And on the Laughter, al-Dārimī answered al-Marīsī, who said that His laughing is the laughing of the crops, in his Naqḍ:
وَلَا يَصْرِفُهُ إِلَّا عَنْ عَدُوٍّ
As for your saying that His laughter is His pleasure and His mercy, you have told the truth in part, because He does not laugh toward anyone except out of pleasure, so laughter and pleasure are gathered together in Him. And He does not turn it away except from an enemy.
al-Dārimī, Naqḍ ʿalā al-Marīsī (ed. al-Shawāmī) p. 301
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وَيْحَكَ! إِنَّ ضَحِكَ الزَّرعِ نَضَارَتُهُ، وَزَهْوتُهُ، وَخُضْرَتُهُ، فَهُوَ أَبَدًا مَا دَامَ أَخْضَرُ ضَاحِكٌ لِكُلِّ أَحَدٍ لِلْوَلِيِّ وَالعَدُوِّ وَلِمَنْ يَسْقِيهِ، وَلِمَنْ يَحْصُدُهُ، لَا يَقْصِدُ بِضَحِكِهِ إِلَى شَيْءٍ، (١) واللهُ يَقْصِدُ بِضَحِكِهِ إِلَى أَوْلِيَائِهِ؛ عِنْدَمَا يُعْجِبُهُ فِعَالُهُمْ، وَيَصْرِفُهُ عَنْ أَعْدَائِهِ فِيمَا يُسْخِطُهُ مِنْ أَفْعَالِهِم.
فَالدَّلِيلُ مِنْ فِعْلِ الله أَنَّهُ يَضْحَكُ إِلَى قَوْمٍ، وَيَصْرِفُهُ عَنْ قَوْمٍ، أنَّ ضَحِكَ الزَّرْعِ مَثَلٌ عَلَى المَجَازِ، وَضَحِكَ اللهِ أَصْلٌ، وَحَقِيقَةٌ لِلضَّحِكِ، يَضْحَكُ كَمَا يَشَاءُ، وَالزَّرْعُ أَبَدًا نَضَارَتُهُ وَخُضْرَتُهُ الَّتِي سَمَّيْتَهُ ضَحِكًا قَائِمٌ أَبَدًا حَتَّى يُسْتَحْصَدَ.
وَأَمَّا قَوْلُكَ: إِنَّ ضَحِكَهُ رِضَاهُ وَرَحْمَتُهُ، فَقَدْ صَدَقْتَ فِي بَعْضٍ؛ لِأَنَّهُ لَا يَضْحَكُ إِلَى أَحَدٍ إِلَّا عَن رِضَا فَيَجْتَمِعُ مِنْهُ الضَّحِكُ وَالرِّضَا.
وَلَا يَصْرِفُهُ إِلَّا عَنْ عَدُوٍّ، وَأَنْتَ تَنْفِي الضَّحِكَ عَنِ الله، وَتُثْبِتُ لَهُ الرِّضَا وَحْدَهُ، وَلَئِنْ جَزَعْتَ مِنْ حَدِيثِ أَبِي مُوسَى عَنِ النَّبِيِّ ﷺ فِي الضَّحِكِ حَتَّى نَفَيْتَهُ عَنِ اللهِ بِمَعْنى ضَحِكِ الزَّرْع؛ مَالَكَ مِنْ رَاحَةٍ فِيمَا رَوَى عَنْهُ ابْنَ مَسْعُودٍ ﵁ مِمَّا يُكَذِّبُ دَعْوَاكَ، وَيَسْتَحِيلُ بِهِ تَفْسِيرُكَ.
“Anger is the boiling of the blood of the heart”, and “these are affections of the soul”
The claim
Said by al-Rāzī in Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb, and by the later Ashʿarīs and Māturīdīs
Anger is the boiling of the blood of the heart in seeking revenge. Love is the inclination of the soul. Pleasure and anger are affections of the soul (infiʿālāt) that come upon it from outside. All of this is impossible for Allah, so these words have to be turned to the will or to what He creates.
Its origin The Jahmiyyah and the Muʿtazilah, who said the same of the will, the knowledge and the power.
The response
They say that they keep the will and the knowledge because reason proves them, and that they drop the love, the pleasure and the anger because these are creaturely. Ibn Taymiyyah gives the rule that takes the difference away.
Ibn Taymiyyah said in al-Risālah al-Tadmuriyyah:
مَيْلُ النَّفْسِ إلَى جَلْبِ مَنْفَعَةٍ أَوْ دَفْعِ مَضَرَّةٍ فَإِنْ قُلْت: هَذِهِ إرَادَةُ الْمَخْلُوقِ قِيلَ لَك: وَهَذَا غَضَبُ الْمَخْلُوقِ وَكَذَلِكَ يَلْزَمُ الْقَوْلُ فِي كَلَامِهِ وَسَمْعِهِ وَبَصَرِهِ وَعِلْمِهِ وَقُدْرَتِهِ؛ إنْ نُفِيَ عَنْهُ الْغَضَبُ وَالْمَحَبَّةُ وَالرِّضَا وَنَحْوُ ذَلِكَ مِمَّا هُوَ مِنْ خَصَائِصِ الْمَخْلُوقِينَ؛ فَهَذَا مُنْتَفٍ عَنْ السَّمْعِ وَالْبَصَرِ وَالْكَلَامِ وَجَمِيعِ الصِّفَاتِ وَإِنْ قَالَ: أَنَّهُ لَا حَقِيقَةَ لِهَذَا إلَّا مَا يَخْتَصُّ بِالْمَخْلُوقِينَ؛ فَيَجِبُ نَفْيُهُ عَنْهُ قِيلَ لَهُ: وَهَكَذَا السَّمْعُ وَالْبَصَرُ وَالْكَلَامُ وَالْعِلْمُ وَالْقُدْرَةُ فَهَذَا الْمُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ بَعْضِ الصِّفَاتِ وَبَعْضٍ يُقَالُ لَهُ: فِيمَا نَفَاهُ كَمَا يَقُولُهُ هُوَ لِمُنَازِعِهِ فِيمَا أَثْبَتَهُ فَإِذَا قَالَ الْمُعْتَزِلِيُّ: لَيْسَ لَهُ إرَادَةٌ وَلَا كَلَامٌ قَائِمٌ بِهِ؛ لِأَنَّ هَذِهِ الصِّفَاتِ لَا تَقُومُ إلَّا بِالْمَخْلُوقَاتِ فَإِنَّهُ يُبَيِّنُ لِلْمُعْتَزِلِيِّ أَنَّ هَذِهِ الصِّفَاتِ يَتَّصِفُ بِهَا الْقَدِيمُ وَلَا تَكُونُ كَصِفَاتِ الْمُحْدَثَاتِ
If the one addressed is someone who says that Allah is Living with life, Knowing with knowledge, Powerful with power, Hearing with hearing, Seeing with sight, Speaking with speech, Willing with a will, and holds all of that to be real, and disputes concerning His love, His pleasure, His anger and His dislike, and makes that a figure of speech, and explains it either by the will or by some created things, of favours and punishments, it is said to him: There is no difference between what you have denied and what you have affirmed; what is said of one is what is said of the other. If you say that His will is like the will of the creatures, then likewise His love, His pleasure and His anger; and this is likening. If you say that He has a will that befits Him, as the creature has a will that befits it, it is said to you: Likewise He has a love that befits Him, and the creature has a love that befits it, and He has a pleasure and an anger that befit Him, and the creature has a pleasure and an anger that befit it. And if you say that anger is the boiling of the blood of the heart in seeking revenge, it is said to him: And the will is the inclination of the soul to bring a benefit or to repel a harm. If you say that this is the will of the creature, it is said to you: And that is the anger of the creature. And it is the same with His speech, His hearing, His sight, His knowledge and His power. If anger, love, pleasure and the like are denied of Him because they are of what is particular to the creatures, then this is denied of the hearing, the sight, the speech and all the attributes. And if he says that this has no reality except what is particular to the creatures, so that it has to be denied of Him, it is said to him: And so with the hearing, the sight, the speech, the knowledge and the power. So the one who makes a difference between some attributes and others is told, concerning what he has denied, what he himself tells his opponent concerning what he has affirmed. When the Muʿtazilī says that He has no will and no speech subsisting in Him, because these attributes subsist only in created things, he makes clear to the Muʿtazilī that the Eternal is described by these attributes, and that they are not like the attributes of originated things.
Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Risālah al-Tadmuriyyah, in Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 3/17–18
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فَأَمَّا الْأَصْلَانِ: فَأَحَدُهُمَا أَنْ يُقَالَ:
الْقَوْلُ فِي بَعْضِ الصِّفَاتِ كَالْقَوْلِ فِي بَعْضٍ
فَإِنْ كَانَ الْمُخَاطَبُ مِمَّنْ يَقُولُ: بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ حَيٌّ بِحَيَاةِ عَلِيمٌ بِعِلْمِ قَدِيرٌ بِقُدْرَةِ سَمِيعٌ بِسَمْعِ بَصِيرٌ بِبَصَرِ مُتَكَلِّمٌ بِكَلَامِ مُرِيدٌ بِإِرَادَةِ وَيَجْعَلُ ذَلِكَ كُلَّهُ حَقِيقَةً وَيُنَازِعُ فِي مَحَبَّتِهِ وَرِضَاهُ وَغَضَبِهِ وَكَرَاهَتِهِ فَيَجْعَلُ ذَلِكَ مَجَازًا وَيُفَسِّرُهُ إمَّا بِالْإِرَادَةِ وَإِمَّا بِبَعْضِ الْمَخْلُوقَاتِ مِنْ النِّعَمِ وَالْعُقُوبَاتِ فَيُقَالُ لَهُ: لَا فَرْقَ بَيْنَ مَا نَفَيْتَهُ وَبَيْنَ مَا أَثْبَتَهُ بَلْ الْقَوْلُ فِي أَحَدِهِمَا كَالْقَوْلِ فِي الْآخَرِ؛ فَإِنْ قُلْت: إنَّ إرَادَتَهُ مِثْلُ إرَادَةِ الْمَخْلُوقِينَ فَكَذَلِكَ مَحَبَّتُهُ وَرِضَاهُ وَغَضَبُهُ وَهَذَا هُوَ التَّمْثِيلُ وَإِنْ قُلْت: إنَّ لَهُ إرَادَةً تَلِيقُ بِهِ؛ كَمَا أَنَّ لِلْمَخْلُوقِ إرَادَةً تَلِيقُ بِهِ قِيلَ لَك: وَكَذَلِكَ لَهُ مَحَبَّةٌ تَلِيقُ بِهِ وَلِلْمَخْلُوقِ مَحَبَّةٌ تَلِيقُ بِهِ وَلَهُ رِضًا وَغَضَبٌ يَلِيقُ بِهِ وَلِلْمَخْلُوقِ رِضًا وَغَضَبٌ يَلِيقُ بِهِ وَإِنْ قُلْت: الْغَضَبُ غَلَيَانُ دَمِ الْقَلْبِ لِطَلَبِ الِانْتِقَامِ فَيُقَالُ لَهُ: وَالْإِرَادَةُ
مَيْلُ النَّفْسِ إلَى جَلْبِ مَنْفَعَةٍ أَوْ دَفْعِ مَضَرَّةٍ فَإِنْ قُلْت: هَذِهِ إرَادَةُ الْمَخْلُوقِ قِيلَ لَك: وَهَذَا غَضَبُ الْمَخْلُوقِ وَكَذَلِكَ يَلْزَمُ الْقَوْلُ فِي كَلَامِهِ وَسَمْعِهِ وَبَصَرِهِ وَعِلْمِهِ وَقُدْرَتِهِ؛ إنْ نُفِيَ عَنْهُ الْغَضَبُ وَالْمَحَبَّةُ وَالرِّضَا وَنَحْوُ ذَلِكَ مِمَّا هُوَ مِنْ خَصَائِصِ الْمَخْلُوقِينَ؛ فَهَذَا مُنْتَفٍ عَنْ السَّمْعِ وَالْبَصَرِ وَالْكَلَامِ وَجَمِيعِ الصِّفَاتِ وَإِنْ قَالَ: أَنَّهُ لَا حَقِيقَةَ لِهَذَا إلَّا مَا يَخْتَصُّ بِالْمَخْلُوقِينَ؛ فَيَجِبُ نَفْيُهُ عَنْهُ قِيلَ لَهُ: وَهَكَذَا السَّمْعُ وَالْبَصَرُ وَالْكَلَامُ وَالْعِلْمُ وَالْقُدْرَةُ فَهَذَا الْمُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ بَعْضِ الصِّفَاتِ وَبَعْضٍ يُقَالُ لَهُ: فِيمَا نَفَاهُ كَمَا يَقُولُهُ هُوَ لِمُنَازِعِهِ فِيمَا أَثْبَتَهُ فَإِذَا قَالَ الْمُعْتَزِلِيُّ: لَيْسَ لَهُ إرَادَةٌ وَلَا كَلَامٌ قَائِمٌ بِهِ؛ لِأَنَّ هَذِهِ الصِّفَاتِ لَا تَقُومُ إلَّا بِالْمَخْلُوقَاتِ فَإِنَّهُ يُبَيِّنُ لِلْمُعْتَزِلِيِّ أَنَّ هَذِهِ الصِّفَاتِ يَتَّصِفُ بِهَا الْقَدِيمُ وَلَا تَكُونُ كَصِفَاتِ الْمُحْدَثَاتِ فَهَكَذَا يَقُولُ لَهُ الْمُثْبِتُونَ لِسَائِرِ الصِّفَاتِ مِنْ الْمَحَبَّةِ وَالرِّضَا وَنَحْوِ ذَلِكَ فَإِنْ قَالَ: تِلْكَ الصِّفَاتُ أَثْبَتَهَا بِالْعَقْلِ لِأَنَّ الْفِعْلَ الْحَادِثَ دَلَّ عَلَى الْقُدْرَةِ وَالتَّخْصِيصَ دَلَّ عَلَى الْإِرَادَةِ وَالْإِحْكَامَ دَلَّ عَلَى الْعِلْمِ وَهَذِهِ الصِّفَاتُ مُسْتَلْزِمَةٌ لِلْحَيَاةِ وَالْحَيُّ لَا يَخْلُو عَنْ السَّمْعِ وَالْبَصَرِ وَالْكَلَامِ أَوْ ضِدِّ ذَلِكَ
The Ashʿarī is holding the argument of the Muʿtazilī against himself, and he answers the Muʿtazilī with the words that he refuses to Ahl al-Sunnah. Whatever he has said to keep the will, Ahl al-Sunnah say to keep the anger. And in another place Ibn Taymiyyah takes away the definition itself, even among creatures.
He said in Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā:
وَلِهَذَا يُذَمُّ مَنْ لَا غَيْرَةَ لَهُ عَلَى الْفَوَاحِشِ كَالدَّيُّوثِ وَيُذَمُّ مَنْ لَا حَمِيَّةَ لَهُ يَدْفَعُ بِهَا الظُّلْمَ عَنْ الْمَظْلُومِينَ وَيَمْدَحُ الَّذِي لَهُ غَيْرَةٌ يَدْفَعُ بِهَا الْفَوَاحِشَ وَحَمِيَّةٌ يَدْفَعُ بِهَا الظُّلْمَ؛ وَيُعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا أَكْمَلُ مِنْ ذَلِكَ. وَلِهَذَا وَصَفَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ الرَّبَّ بالأكملية فِي ذَلِكَ فَقَالَ فِي الْحَدِيثِ الصَّحِيحِ: ﴿لَا أَحَدَ أَغْيَرُ مِنْ اللَّهِ مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَلِكَ حَرَّمَ الْفَوَاحِشَ مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَمَا بَطَنَ﴾ وَقَالَ: ﴿أَتَعْجَبُونَ مِنْ غَيْرَةِ سَعْدٍ؟ أَنَا أَغْيَرُ مِنْهُ وَاَللَّهُ أَغْيَرُ مِنِّي﴾ . وَقَوْلُ الْقَائِلِ: إنَّ هَذِهِ انْفِعَالَاتٌ نَفْسَانِيَّةٌ. فَيُقَالُ: كُلُّ مَا سِوَى اللَّهِ مَخْلُوقٌ مُنْفَعِلٌ وَنَحْنُ وَذَوَاتُنَا مُنْفَعِلَةٌ فَكَوْنُهَا انْفِعَالَاتٍ فِينَا لِغَيْرِنَا نَعْجِزُ عَنْ دَفْعِهَا: لَا يُوجِبُ أَنْ يَكُونَ اللَّهُ مُنْفَعِلًا لَهَا عَاجِزًا عَنْ دَفْعِهَا وَكَانَ كُلُّ مَا يَجْرِي فِي الْوُجُودِ فَإِنَّهُ بِمَشِيئَتِهِ وَقُدْرَتِهِ لَا يَكُونُ إلَّا مَا يَشَاءُ وَلَا يَشَاءُ إلَّا مَا يَكُونُ
As for the saying of the one who says “Anger is the boiling of the blood of the heart in seeking revenge”, it is not correct even of us. Anger can be to repel what opposes one before it has come to exist, and then there is no revenge in it at all. Further, the boiling of the blood of the heart accompanies anger; mere anger is not itself the boiling of the blood of the heart, just as shame is accompanied by a redness of the face and fear by a yellowness of the face, and it is not that. For when the soul sets about repelling what harms it, if it feels that it is able, the blood floods outward, and anger comes of that; and if it feels that it is unable, the blood returns inward and the face turns yellow, as happens to one who grieves. Further, if it were supposed that this is the reality of our anger, it would not follow that the anger of Allah, the Exalted, is like our anger, just as the reality of the Essence of Allah is not like our essence. He is not like us, neither like our essences nor our souls, and His attributes are like His Essence. And we know by necessity that if we suppose two existing beings, one with a strength by which he repels corruption, and the other for whom there is no difference between good and corruption, then the one with that strength is more perfect. For this reason the one who has no jealousy over indecencies, such as the man who connives at them, is blamed, and the one who has no ardour by which to repel oppression from the oppressed is blamed, and the one who has jealousy by which he repels indecencies and ardour by which he repels oppression is praised; and it is known that this is more perfect than that. For this reason the Prophet ﷺ described the Lord as most perfect in that, and he said in the authentic ḥadīth: “No one is more jealous than Allah; for that reason He has forbidden indecencies, the open of them and the hidden.” And he said: “Do you wonder at the jealousy of Saʿd? I am more jealous than he, and Allah is more jealous than I.” As for the saying of the one who says that these are affections of the soul, it is said: Everything other than Allah is created and affected, and we and our essences are affected. That these are affections in us, caused by something else, which we are unable to repel, does not require that Allah is affected by them and unable to repel them, when everything that takes place in existence is by His will and His power; nothing is except what He wills.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 6/119–120
Source, chain and authenticity
So the argument has fallen three times. The definition is wrong of the creature. If it were right of the creature it would say nothing of the Creator. And what he calls an affection from outside cannot happen to the One who created the cause, by whose will the cause happens at all. Then comes the proof that he has not considered: the one for whom good and evil are alike is not the more perfect. A god who is not angered by the killing of His prophets, and is not pleased by the prayer of His servants, and does not love anyone, has the attribute that the Muslims blame in the lowest of men.
Al-Jaʿd ibn Dirham: “Allah did not take Ibrāhīm as an intimate friend”
The claim
Said by al-Jaʿd ibn Dirham, and by Jahm ibn Ṣafwān who took it from him
Allah did not take Ibrāhīm as an intimate friend (khalīl), and He did not speak to Mūsā. Love and friendship are impossible between the Creator and the creature, for there is no likeness between them.
Its origin Al-Jaʿd ibn Dirham, the first of whom the denial of the attributes is recorded.
The response
The denial of the attributes is known in Islam by the first two attributes that it denied. It began with the love and with the speech. Al-Bukhārī reports how it was met.
Al-Bukhārī reported in Khalq Afʿāl al-ʿIbād, from Ḥabīb ibn Abī Ḥabīb:
I was present with Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qasrī at Wāsiṭ on the day of the Aḍḥā, and he said: Go back and sacrifice, may Allah accept from you, for I am sacrificing al-Jaʿd ibn Dirham. He claimed that Allah did not take Ibrāhīm as an intimate friend, and that He did not speak to Mūsā. Allah is far exalted above what al-Jaʿd ibn Dirham says. Then he came down and slaughtered him.
al-Bukhārī, Khalq Afʿāl al-ʿIbād p. 29
Source, chain and authenticity
Read the page in the source edition (opens in a new tab)
The whole page in Arabic
Khālid was the governor of ʿIrāq, and he did this in his office, before the people in the prayer of ʿĪd. The Muslims of that day had no difficulty in seeing what had been said. Allah said “And Allah took Ibrāhīm as an intimate friend”, and the man said that He did not. That is the whole of the matter. And the later schools that say “His love is only the will to reward” have said of Ibrāhīm and of Muḥammad ﷺ what al-Jaʿd said, in softer words: that nothing is there on the side of the Lord but an intention to give.
The khullah is the highest degree of love. Allah said of those who believe that He loves them and they love Him, and the Prophet ﷺ said “Allah took me as an intimate friend as He took Ibrāhīm as an intimate friend.” There is no ḥadīth or verse in which any of this is said to have a meaning other than itself, and nobody before al-Jaʿd said that it did.
Sources
- Abū Yaʿlā, Ibṭāl al-Taʾwīlāt (Ghirās)
- Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā
- Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Risālah al-Tadmuriyyah, in Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā
- Qurʾān
- The sons of Shaykh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb and Shaykh Ḥamad ibn Nāṣir ibn Muʿammar, in al-Durar al-Saniyyah
- al-Bukhārī, Khalq Afʿāl al-ʿIbād
- al-Bukhārī, al-Ṣaḥīḥ (al-Sulṭāniyyah)
- al-Dārimī, Naqḍ ʿalā al-Marīsī (ed. al-Shawāmī)
- al-Rāzī, Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb
- al-Zamakhsharī, al-Kashshāf