Part One
The creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah in summary
First Issue: The Word Kalām and What the Salaf Condemned
Kalām in the language is speech. As the name of a science, ʿilm al-kalām is the discipline that argues about Allah, His attributes and His acts with rational premises taken from the philosophers: that the world is made of substances (jawāhir) and accidents (aʿrāḍ), that whatever is not free of accidents is originated, and that whatever has an attribute or an act is a body. The Jahmiyyah built their denial of the attributes on these premises, the Muʿtazilah took them from the Jahmiyyah, and the later Ashʿarīs kept them.
The Salaf did not condemn reasoning, which the Qurʾān commands, or argument with the people of falsehood, which the Prophets carried out. They condemned this method: putting premises of human invention in front of the texts, and making the Book and the Sunnah follow them. Their judgement on it was not gentle. They called its people innovators and zanādiqah, refused to sit with them, and ordered that they be punished and paraded so that people would know what they had left.
Part Two
The texts of the Qurʾān and the Sunnah
Second Issue: The Qurʾān and the Sunnah on Those Who Argue over the Verses
Allah commanded His Prophet ﷺ to turn away from those who plunge into talk about His verses, and not to sit with them after being reminded. And He said that none dispute about the verses of Allah except those who disbelieve. Disputing to reject the verses is the mark of disbelief, and sitting with those who do it is forbidden until they turn to another subject.
Allah, the Exalted, said:
And when you see those who engage in talk about Our verses, turn away from them until they enter into another talk. And if Satan causes you to forget, then after the reminder do not sit with the wrongdoing people.
Qurʾān 6:68 (al-Anʿām) Read the verse (opens in a new tab)
Allah, the Exalted, said:
None dispute concerning the verses of Allah except those who disbelieve; so let not their movement through the lands deceive you.
Qurʾān 40:4 (Ghāfir) Read the verse (opens in a new tab)
ʿĀʾishah reported that the Prophet ﷺ recited the verse of the precise and the unspecific, and then said: when you see those who follow what is unspecific in it, they are the ones whom Allah named, so beware of them. The mutakallim takes a verse or a word that admits more than one meaning, builds his rational premises on it, and then uses it to overturn the precise verses of the Highness, the Speech and the attributes. The Prophet ﷺ described him, and commanded the Muslims to beware of him.
Muslim reported in his Ṣaḥīḥ:
⦗٥٧⦘
الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَابَهَ مِنْهُ فَأُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ سَمَّى اللهُ فَاحْذَرُوهُمْ
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Maslamah ibn Qaʿnab narrated to us: Yazīd ibn Ibrāhīm al-Tustarī narrated to us, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Mulaykah, from al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad, from ʿĀʾishah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ recited: {It is He who sent down to you the Book; in it are verses that are precise — they are the foundation of the Book — and others that are unspecific. As for those in whose hearts is deviation, they follow what is unspecific in it, seeking discord and seeking its interpretation; and none knows its interpretation except Allah. And those firm in knowledge say: We believe in it; all of it is from our Lord. And none take heed except people of understanding.} She said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “When you see those who follow what is unspecific in it, they are the ones whom Allah named, so beware of them.”
Muslim, al-Ṣaḥīḥ (al-Turkiyyah) 8/56–57, no. 2665
Source, chain and authenticity
Authentic. It is in the Ṣaḥīḥ of Muslim, and the ummah received the two Ṣaḥīḥs with acceptance; its full chain is given in the Arabic above.
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⦗٥٧⦘
الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَابَهَ مِنْهُ فَأُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ سَمَّى اللهُ فَاحْذَرُوهُمْ .»
٢ - (٢٦٦٦) حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو كَامِلٍ فُضَيْلُ بْنُ حُسَيْنٍ الْجَحْدَرِيُّ ، حَدَّثَنَا حَمَّادُ بْنُ زَيْدٍ ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو عِمْرَانَ الْجَوْنِيُّ قَالَ: كَتَبَ إِلَيَّ عَبْدُ اللهِ بْنُ رَبَاحٍ الْأَنْصَارِيُّ أَنَّ عَبْدَ اللهِ بْنَ عَمْرٍو قَالَ: « هَجَّرْتُ إِلَى رَسُولِ اللهِ ﷺ يَوْمًا قَالَ: فَسَمِعَ أَصْوَاتَ رَجُلَيْنِ اخْتَلَفَا فِي آيَةٍ فَخَرَجَ عَلَيْنَا رَسُولُ اللهِ ﷺ يُعْرَفُ فِي وَجْهِهِ الْغَضَبُ فَقَالَ: إِنَّمَا هَلَكَ مَنْ كَانَ قَبْلَكُمْ بِاخْتِلَافِهِمْ فِي الْكِتَابِ .»
Part Three
The chains of transmission, with comments on them
Third Issue: The Chains of These Reports
The report of ʿUmar and Ṣabīgh comes in Dhamm al-Kalām through Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān al-Fasawī, the imam of ḥadīth, from ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Shaqīq, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak, from Sulaymān al-Taymī, from Abū ʿUthmān al-Nahdī, who was present when ʿUmar's letter came. Every man in it is a trustworthy imam, and the story of Ṣabīgh is transmitted through many other routes in the books of the Sunnah.
The saying of Mālik comes through Isḥāq ibn ʿĪsā al-Ṭabbāʿ, who accompanied Mālik and narrated from him. The saying of Abū Yūsuf, the companion of Abū Ḥanīfah and the chief judge of Baghdād, al-Harawī gathered through several separate routes and joined them, which shows how widely it was known.
The report from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib comes through Abū al-Bakhtarī, Saʿīd ibn Fīrūz, who did not meet ʿAlī, so its chain is broken; and the editor of Dhamm al-Kalām noted that he did not find it elsewhere. It is given here because al-Harawī gave it, and it is not relied upon by itself; the reports of ʿUmar, Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī and Abū Yūsuf are sufficient without it.
Part Four
The statements of the Salaf
Fourth Issue: The Judgement of the Companions and the Imams
Ṣabīgh ibn ʿIsl came to Madīnah asking about the unspecific verses of the Qurʾān. ʿUmar had him beaten, sent him back to Baṣrah, and wrote to the people there: do not sit with Ṣabīgh. Abū ʿUthmān al-Nahdī said: if he came to us while we were a hundred, we scattered away from him. This was the treatment the Rightly-Guided Caliph gave to a man who only asked about the unspecific to stir up doubt; the mutakallim does far more than ask.
Abū Ismāʿīl al-Harawī reported in Dhamm al-Kalām wa-Ahlih:
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān informed us: ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Bakrān informed us in Baṣrah: al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān al-Fasawī informed us: Yaʿqūb ibn Sufyān narrated to us: ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Shaqīq narrated to us: ʿAbd Allāh [ibn al-Mubārak] narrated to us: Sulaymān al-Taymī informed us, from Abū ʿUthmān al-Nahdī, who said: ʿUmar wrote to us: “Do not sit with Ṣabīgh.” So if he came while we were a hundred, we would scatter away from him.
Abū Ismāʿīl al-Harawī, Dhamm al-Kalām wa-Ahlih 4/244, no. 707
Source, chain and authenticity
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Al-Shāfiʿī, whom the later Ashʿarīs claim as their imam in fiqh, said: my judgement on the people of kalām is the judgement of ʿUmar on Ṣabīgh. He did not distinguish between the kalām of one sect and another; he gave one judgement on the people of the discipline.
Abū Ismāʿīl al-Harawī reported in Dhamm al-Kalām wa-Ahlih:
Ismāʿīl ibn Ibrāhīm informed us: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh narrated to us: Abū al-Walīd Ḥassān ibn Muḥammad narrated to us: Ibrāhīm ibn Maḥmūd narrated to me: Abū Sulaymān narrated to me: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī narrated to me: I heard al-Shāfiʿī say: “My judgement on the people of kalām is the judgement of ʿUmar on Ṣabīgh.”
Abū Ismāʿīl al-Harawī, Dhamm al-Kalām wa-Ahlih 4/246, no. 708
Source, chain and authenticity
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٧٠٩ - أَخْبَرَنَا لُقْمَانُ بْنُ أَحْمَدَ الْبُخَارِيُّ أَخْبَرَنَا مَعْمَرُ بْنُ أَحْمَدَ الْأَصْبَهَانِيُّ أَخْبَرَنَا سُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ أَحْمَدَ الطَّبَرَانِيُّ حَدَّثَنَا بِشْرُ بْنُ مُوسَى حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ الْأَصْبَهَانِيُّ حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ عَيَّاشٍ عَنْ الْأَعْمَشِ عَنْ
Abū Ismāʿīl al-Harawī reported in Dhamm al-Kalām wa-Ahlih:
عَمْرِو بْنِ مُرَّةَ عَنْ أَبِي الْبَخْتَرِيِّ قَالَ قَالَ عَلِيُّ بْنُ أَبِي طَالِبٍ (يَخْرُجُ فِي آخِرِ الزَّمَانِ أَقْوَامٌ يَتَكَلَّمُونَ بِكَلَامٍ لَا يَعْرِفُهُ أَهْلُ الْإِسْلَامِ وَيَدْعُونَ النَّاسَ إِلَى كَلَامِهِمْ فَمَنْ لَقِيَهُمْ فَلْيُقَاتِلْهُمْ فَإِنَّ قَتَلَهُمْ أُجِرَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ)
Luqmān ibn Aḥmad al-Bukhārī informed us: Maʿmar ibn Aḥmad al-Aṣbahānī informed us: Sulaymān ibn Aḥmad al-Ṭabarānī informed us: Bishr ibn Mūsā narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Saʿīd al-Aṣbahānī narrated to us: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh narrated to us, from al-Aʿmash, from ʿAmr ibn Murrah, from Abū al-Bakhtarī, who said: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib said: “At the end of time there will come out people who speak with a speech that the people of Islam do not know, and who call the people to their speech. Whoever meets them, let him fight them, for the one who kills them is rewarded with Allah.”
Abū Ismāʿīl al-Harawī, Dhamm al-Kalām wa-Ahlih 4/246–247, no. 709
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٧٠٩ - أَخْبَرَنَا لُقْمَانُ بْنُ أَحْمَدَ الْبُخَارِيُّ أَخْبَرَنَا مَعْمَرُ بْنُ أَحْمَدَ الْأَصْبَهَانِيُّ أَخْبَرَنَا سُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ أَحْمَدَ الطَّبَرَانِيُّ حَدَّثَنَا بِشْرُ بْنُ مُوسَى حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ الْأَصْبَهَانِيُّ حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ عَيَّاشٍ عَنْ الْأَعْمَشِ عَنْ
عَمْرِو بْنِ مُرَّةَ عَنْ أَبِي الْبَخْتَرِيِّ قَالَ قَالَ عَلِيُّ بْنُ أَبِي طَالِبٍ (يَخْرُجُ فِي آخِرِ الزَّمَانِ أَقْوَامٌ يَتَكَلَّمُونَ بِكَلَامٍ لَا يَعْرِفُهُ أَهْلُ الْإِسْلَامِ وَيَدْعُونَ النَّاسَ إِلَى كَلَامِهِمْ فَمَنْ لَقِيَهُمْ فَلْيُقَاتِلْهُمْ فَإِنَّ قَتَلَهُمْ أُجِرَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ) // لم أتمكن من العثور عَلَيْهِ لَكِن رِوَايَة أبي البخْترِي بِفَتْح الْبَاء الْمُوَحدَة عَنْ عَلِيٍّ ﵁ //
٧١٠ - أَخْبَرَنَا الْحَسَنُ بْنُ يَحْيَى أَخْبَرَنَا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عُمَرَ بْنِ اللَّيْثِ الْجُرْجَانِيُّ حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ الْحَسَنِ بْنِ بُنْدَارٍ حَدَّثَنَا عَليّ بن إِبْرَاهِيم ابْن سَلَمَةَ الْفَقِيهُ حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو حَاتِمٍ الرَّازِي حَدَّثَنَا عُبَيْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مُوسَى حَدَّثَنَا إِسْرَائِيلُ عَنْ أَبِي إِسْحَاقَ عَنِ الْحَارِثِ عَنْ عَلِيٍّ أَنَّهُ أَوْصَى فَقَالَ (الِاخْتِلَافِ حَالِقَةُ الدِّينِ وَفَسَادُ ذَاتِ الْبَيْنِ وَإِيَّاكُمْ وَالْخُصُومَاتُ
Mālik ibn Anas, the imam of Madīnah, said: whoever seeks the religion through kalām becomes a zindīq. And Abū Yūsuf, the foremost companion of Abū Ḥanīfah, said the same words. The imams of the Ḥijāz and of ʿIrāq, of the school of ḥadīth and the school of opinion, agreed on this judgement. Whoever today claims to follow Mālik or Abū Ḥanīfah while teaching kalām as the foundation of creed has left the judgement of the imam he claims.
Abū Ismāʿīl al-Harawī reported in Dhamm al-Kalām wa-Ahlih:
Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Harawī informed us: Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad al-Ṣāʾigh informed us: Ibrāhīm ibn Aḥmad al-Mustamlī informed us: ʿAlī ibn al-Faḍl narrated to us: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad al-Jarrāḥī narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn ʿUbaydah narrated to us: Bishr ibn Aḥmad al-Ḥārithī narrated to us: Isḥāq ibn ʿĪsā narrated to us, from Mālik ibn Anas, who said: “Whoever seeks the religion through kalām becomes a zindīq; whoever seeks wealth through alchemy goes bankrupt; and whoever seeks the strange reports of ḥadīth lies.”
Abū Ismāʿīl al-Harawī, Dhamm al-Kalām wa-Ahlih 5/71, no. 859
Source, chain and authenticity
Abū Ismāʿīl al-Harawī reported in Dhamm al-Kalām wa-Ahlih:
غَرِيبَ الْحَدِيثِ كَذِبَ وَمَنْ طَلَبَ الْمَالَ بِالْكِيمْيَاءِ أَفْلَسَ) لَفْظُ جَعْفَرٍ
And Abū Yaʿqūb informed us: Aḥmad ibn Ḥasnawayh informed us: al-Saʿdī narrated to us: ʿUmar ibn Shabbah narrated to us: Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān ibn Abī Rajāʾ narrated to us — [and the other routes joined above, through al-Firyābī, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Ṣāʾigh and Aḥmad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Baghdādī, from Bishr ibn al-Walīd al-Kindī] — they said: We heard Abū Yūsuf the judge say: “Whoever seeks the religion through kalām becomes a zindīq; whoever seeks the strange reports of ḥadīth lies; and whoever seeks wealth through alchemy goes bankrupt.” This is the wording of Jaʿfar.
Abū Ismāʿīl al-Harawī, Dhamm al-Kalām wa-Ahlih 5/202–203
Source, chain and authenticity
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ح وَأَخْبَرَنَا ابْنُ مَحْبُورٍ أَخْبَرَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ ظَفْرٍ حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ مُعَاذٍ سَمِعْتُ مُحَمَّدَ بْنَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الصَّائِغَ
ح وَأَخْبَرَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ أَخْبَرَنَا ابْنُ أَبِي ذَهْلٍ أَخْبَرَنَا ابْنُ يَاسِينَ حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو مَعْشَرِ الْفَضْلُ بْنُ الْعَبَّاسِ سَمِعْتُ أَحْمَدَ بْنَ إِسْمَاعِيلَ الْبَغْدَادِيَّ قَالُوا جَمِيعًا سَمِعْنَا بِشْرَ بْنَ الْوَلِيدِ الْكِنْدِيَّ
ح وَأَخْبَرَنَا أَبُو يَعْقُوبَ أَخْبَرَنَا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ حَسَنَوَيْهِ حَدَّثَنَا السَّعْدِيُّ حَدَّثَنَا عُمَرُ بْنُ شَبَّةَ حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ سُلَيْمَانَ بْنِ أَبِي رَجَاءٍ قَالَا سَمِعْنَا أَبَا يُوسُفَ الْقَاضِيَّ يَقُولُ (مَنْ طَلَبَ الدِّينَ بِالْكَلَامِ تَزَنْدَقَ وَمَنْ طَلَبَ
غَرِيبَ الْحَدِيثِ كَذِبَ وَمَنْ طَلَبَ الْمَالَ بِالْكِيمْيَاءِ أَفْلَسَ) لَفْظُ جَعْفَرٍ
٩٩٩ - أَخْبرنِي طيب أَخْبَرَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْحُسَيْنِ حَدَّثَنَا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ الْعَمْرَكِيُّ حَدَّثَنَا مُعَاذُ بْنُ الْفَرَجِ حَدَّثَنَا مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ الصَّائِغُ حَدَّثَنَا بِشْرٌ
Part Five
The imams after them
Fifth Issue: The Confession of the Mutakallimūn
The strongest witness against kalām is the confession of its own masters. Ibn Taymiyyah recorded that al-Rāzī and a Muʿtazilī debated a whole day without either establishing a proof against the other. The Muʿtazilī left kalām for remembrance and worship, and came out swearing that the truth was with those his school called mushabbihah, because he had come to know that the Lord of the Jahmiyyah is pure non-existence. Al-Rāzī answered the call to leave kalām with: I am too busy for this.
Ibn Taymiyyah said in Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā:
يَلْزَمُ نَفْسَ الْمَخْلُوقِ لُزُومًا لَا يُمْكِنُهُ الِانْفِكَاكُ عَنْهُ فَالْمَرْجِعُ فِي كَوْنِهِ ضَرُورِيًّا إلَى أَنَّهُ يَعْجِزُ عَنْ دَفْعِهِ عَنْ نَفْسِهِ. فَأَخْبَرَ الشَّيْخُ: أَنَّ عُلُومَهُمْ ضَرُورِيَّةٌ وَأَنَّهَا تَرِدُ عَلَى النُّفُوسِ عَلَى وَجْهٍ تَعْجِزُ عَنْ دَفْعِهِ فَقَالَا لَهُ: مَا الطَّرِيقُ إلَى ذَلِكَ؟ فَقَالَ: تَتْرُكَانِ مَا أَنْتُمَا فِيهِ وَتَسْلُكَانِ مَا أَمَرَكُمَا اللَّهُ بِهِ مِنْ الذِّكْرِ وَالْعِبَادَةِ. فَقَالَ الرَّازِي: أَنَا مَشْغُولٌ عَنْ هَذَا. وَقَالَ الْمُعْتَزِلِيُّ: أَنَا قَدْ احْتَرَقَ قَلْبِي بِالشُّبُهَاتِ وَأُحِبُّ هَذِهِ الْوَارِدَاتِ فَلَزِمَ الشَّيْخَ مُدَّةً ثُمَّ خَرَجَ مِنْ مَحَلِّ عِبَادَتِهِ وَهُوَ يَقُولُهُ: وَاَللَّهِ يَا سَيِّدِي مَا الْحَقُّ إلَّا فِيمَا يَقُولُهُ هَؤُلَاءِ الْمُشَبِّهَةُ - يَعْنِي: الْمُثْبِتِينَ لِلصِّفَاتِ؛ فَإِنَّ الْمُعْتَزِلَةَ يُسَمُّونَ الصفاتية مُشَبِّهَةً - وَذَلِكَ أَنَّهُ عَلِمَ عِلْمًا ضَرُورِيًّا لَا يُمْكِنُهُ دَفْعُهُ عَنْ قَلْبِهِ أَنَّ رَبَّ الْعَالَمِ لَا بُدَّ أَنْ يَتَمَيَّزَ عَنْ الْعَالَمِ وَأَنَّ يَكُونَ بَائِنًا مِنْهُ لَهُ صِفَاتٌ تَخْتَصُّ بِهِ وَأَنَّ هَذَا الرَّبَّ الَّذِي تَصِفُهُ الْجَهْمِيَّة إنَّمَا هُوَ عَدَمٌ مَحْضٌ.
… as in the well-preserved account of Najm al-Dīn al-Kubrā, when two mutakallimūn came in to him, one of them Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Rāzī and the other a mutakallim of the Muʿtazilah. They said: O Shaykh, it has reached us that you know with the knowledge of certainty. He said: Yes. They said: How can that be, when we have been debating from the start of the day until this hour, and neither of us has been able to establish a proof against the other? … He said: The knowledge of certainty, with us, is things that come upon the souls which the souls are unable to repel … They said: What is the way to that? He said: That you leave what you are in and follow what Allah commanded you of remembrance and worship. Al-Rāzī said: I am too busy for this. The Muʿtazilī said: My heart has been burnt by doubts. So he kept company with the Shaykh for a while, then came out saying: By Allah, my master, the truth is only in what these mushabbihah say — meaning those who affirm the attributes — for he came to know with a necessary knowledge that the Lord of the world must be distinct from the world, with attributes particular to Him, and that the lord whom the Jahmiyyah describe is pure non-existence.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 4/43–44
Source, chain and authenticity
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The whole page in Arabic
يَلْزَمُ نَفْسَ الْمَخْلُوقِ لُزُومًا لَا يُمْكِنُهُ الِانْفِكَاكُ عَنْهُ فَالْمَرْجِعُ فِي كَوْنِهِ ضَرُورِيًّا إلَى أَنَّهُ يَعْجِزُ عَنْ دَفْعِهِ عَنْ نَفْسِهِ. فَأَخْبَرَ الشَّيْخُ: أَنَّ عُلُومَهُمْ ضَرُورِيَّةٌ وَأَنَّهَا تَرِدُ عَلَى النُّفُوسِ عَلَى وَجْهٍ تَعْجِزُ عَنْ دَفْعِهِ فَقَالَا لَهُ: مَا الطَّرِيقُ إلَى ذَلِكَ؟ فَقَالَ: تَتْرُكَانِ مَا أَنْتُمَا فِيهِ وَتَسْلُكَانِ مَا أَمَرَكُمَا اللَّهُ بِهِ مِنْ الذِّكْرِ وَالْعِبَادَةِ. فَقَالَ الرَّازِي: أَنَا مَشْغُولٌ عَنْ هَذَا. وَقَالَ الْمُعْتَزِلِيُّ: أَنَا قَدْ احْتَرَقَ قَلْبِي بِالشُّبُهَاتِ وَأُحِبُّ هَذِهِ الْوَارِدَاتِ فَلَزِمَ الشَّيْخَ مُدَّةً ثُمَّ خَرَجَ مِنْ مَحَلِّ عِبَادَتِهِ وَهُوَ يَقُولُهُ: وَاَللَّهِ يَا سَيِّدِي مَا الْحَقُّ إلَّا فِيمَا يَقُولُهُ هَؤُلَاءِ الْمُشَبِّهَةُ - يَعْنِي: الْمُثْبِتِينَ لِلصِّفَاتِ؛ فَإِنَّ الْمُعْتَزِلَةَ يُسَمُّونَ الصفاتية مُشَبِّهَةً - وَذَلِكَ أَنَّهُ عَلِمَ عِلْمًا ضَرُورِيًّا لَا يُمْكِنُهُ دَفْعُهُ عَنْ قَلْبِهِ أَنَّ رَبَّ الْعَالَمِ لَا بُدَّ أَنْ يَتَمَيَّزَ عَنْ الْعَالَمِ وَأَنَّ يَكُونَ بَائِنًا مِنْهُ لَهُ صِفَاتٌ تَخْتَصُّ بِهِ وَأَنَّ هَذَا الرَّبَّ الَّذِي تَصِفُهُ الْجَهْمِيَّة إنَّمَا هُوَ عَدَمٌ مَحْضٌ. وَهَذَا مَوْضِعُ الْحِكَايَةِ الْمَشْهُورَةِ عَنْ الشَّيْخِ الْعَارِفِ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ الهمداني لِأَبِي الْمَعَالِي الجُوَيْنِي لَمَّا أَخَذَ يَقُولُ عَلَى الْمِنْبَرِ: كَانَ اللَّهُ وَلَا عَرْشَ فَقَالَ: يَا أُسْتَاذُ دَعْنَا مِنْ ذِكْرِ الْعَرْشِ - يَعْنِي: لِأَنَّ ذَلِكَ إنَّمَا جَاءَ فِي السَّمْعِ - أَخْبِرْنَا عَنْ هَذِهِ الضَّرُورَةِ الَّتِي نَجِدُهَا فِي قُلُوبِنَا فَإِنَّهُ مَا قَالَ عَارِفٌ قَطُّ " يَا اللَّهُ " إلَّا وَجَدَ مِنْ قَلْبِهِ ضَرُورَةً تَطْلُبُ الْعُلُوَّ لَا تَلْتَفِتُ يَمْنَةً وَلَا يَسْرَةً فَكَيْفَ نَدْفَعُ هَذِهِ الضَّرُورَةَ عَنْ قُلُوبِنَا؟ قَالَ: فَلَطَمَ أَبُو الْمَعَالِي عَلَى رَأْسِهِ وَقَالَ: حَيَّرَنِي الهمداني حَيَّرَنِي الهمداني وَنَزَلَ.
Al-Juwaynī at the end of his life told people to hold to the religion of the old women, and al-Rāzī himself wrote that he had examined the methods of kalām and philosophy and found that they neither heal the sick nor quench the thirsty. The men who spent their lives in this discipline testified at the end that it had brought them doubt and bewilderment. The Salaf told the ummah this from the beginning, and spared those who listened to them the journey.
Part Six
Principles drawn from the evidence
Sixth Issue: The Principles That Follow
The first principle: the rational proofs that are sound are already in the Qurʾān, in clearer and stronger form. Allah said: were they created from nothing, or are they the creators? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? This is the proof of the Creator that every mind accepts, without substances and accidents.
Allah, the Exalted, said:
Or were they created from nothing, or are they the creators? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Rather, they have no certainty.
Qurʾān 52:35–36 (al-Ṭūr) Read the verse (opens in a new tab)
The second principle: no rational premise is placed before the texts. When the texts are established, reason follows them; and sound reason never contradicts sound revelation. Ibn Taymiyyah wrote Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql to prove this in detail against al-Rāzī's universal rule, which said that when reason and revelation conflict, reason is put first.
The third principle: the judgement on kalām is a judgement on the method and its people as a group. It does not mean that every individual who fell into some of it is a disbeliever; the Salaf distinguished between the doctrine, which they condemned in the harshest terms, and the individual, who is judged after the proof is established upon him.
Part Seven
The claims of the opponents and their refutation
“The Salaf condemned only the kalām of the Muʿtazilah”
The claim
The condemnation of kalām by al-Shāfiʿī, Mālik and the Salaf was aimed at the Muʿtazilah and the heretics. The kalām of the Ashʿarīs defends the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah and is praiseworthy.
The response
The words of the imams are general: “the people of kalām”, “whoever seeks the religion through kalām”. They did not say “the kalām of the Muʿtazilah”. And the kalām they knew was precisely the method of substances, accidents and bodies, which is the method of the Ashʿarī books. The proof of the origination of the world from the accidents of bodies, which al-Ashʿarī's followers made the foundation of their creed, is the proof of Jahm and Abū al-Hudhayl.
The defence of the creed that the Salaf praised was the defence with the Qurʾān, the Sunnah and the sound reason that the Qurʾān contains. The Ashʿarī defence ended by denying the Highness, the Speech with a voice, the Hands, the Face and the actions of Allah, which are the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah. A defence that surrenders the city is not a defence.
“Kalām is needed to answer the atheists and philosophers”
The claim
Without kalām the Muslims cannot answer the atheists and the philosophers, so learning it is a collective obligation.
The response
The mutakallimūn did not defeat the philosophers; they took their premises and then disagreed with them over the conclusions. The philosophers answered them with the same premises, and the later mutakallimūn, al-Rāzī above all, became indistinguishable from the philosophers in much of what they wrote.
Ibn Taymiyyah answered the philosophers and the mutakallimūn together, with the Qurʾān and sound reason, in Darʾ Taʿāruḍ al-ʿAql wa-l-Naql and Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyyah, and showed that their premises were false from the root. That is the answer to the atheist: the proofs of the Qurʾān, which the Prophets gave and which every sound mind accepts, not a discipline that its own masters confessed brought them only bewilderment.
Sources
- Abū Ismāʿīl al-Harawī, Dhamm al-Kalām wa-Ahlih
- Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā
- Muslim, al-Ṣaḥīḥ (al-Turkiyyah)
- Qurʾān