Al-Qawl al-Mufid ala Kitab al-Tawhid — Volume 1 (القول المفيد على كتاب التوحيد) — Page 13

Arabic text · النص

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

كَلَامُهُ، وَهُوَ خَالٍ مِنْهُ كَانَ فِي غَايَةِ التَّعْمِيَةِ وَالتَّضْلِيلِ، وَالْقَدْحِ فِي كَلَامِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ

His speech, while devoid of truth, was profoundly obscure and misleading, serving only to disparage the word of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic.

وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ سَلَكَ مَسْلَكَ التَّمْثِيلِ زَاعِمًا بِأَنَّهُ مُحَقِّقٌ لِمَا وَصَفَ اللَّهُ بِهِ نَفْسَهُ،

Some followed the path of anthropomorphism, claiming they were merely verifying the descriptions Allah gave of Himself.

وَقَدْ ضَلُّوا لِأَنَّهُمْ لَمْ يَقْدِرُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ إِذْ وَصَمُوهُ بِالْعَيْبِ وَالنَّقْصِ، لِأَنَّهُمْ جَعَلُوا الْكَامِلَ مِنْ كُلِّ وَجْهٍ كَالنَّاقِصِ مِنْ كُلِّ وَجْهٍ.

They went astray because they failed to revere Allah as He deserves, branding Him with flaws and deficiencies by equating the Perfect in every sense with the inherently imperfect.

وَإِذَا كَانَ تَفْضِيلُ الْكَامِلِ عَلَى النَّاقِصِ يَحُطُّ مِنْ قَدْرِهِ، فَكَيْفَ بِتَمْثِيلِ الْكَامِلِ بِالنَّاقِصِ؟!

If merely preferring the perfect over the imperfect diminishes the former, how much worse is it to liken the Perfect to the imperfect?

وَهَذَا أَعْظَمُ مَا يَكُونُ جِنَايَةً عَلَى اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ وَإِنْ كَانَ الْمُعَطِّلُونَ أَعْظَمَ جُرْمًا لَكِنَّ الْكُلَّ لَمْ يَقْدِرُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ.

This is a grave offense against Allah, the Mighty and Majestic; though those who deny His attributes may be more sinful, all these groups have failed to honor Allah as He deserves.

فَالْوَاجِبُ أَنْ نُؤْمِنَ بِمَا وَصَفَ اللَّهُ وَسَمَّى بِهِ نَفْسَهُ فِي كِتَابِهِ وَعَلَى لِسَانِ رَسُولِهِ، مِنْ غَيْرِ تَحْرِيفٍ، وَلَا تَعْطِيلٍ، وَلَا تَكْيِيفٍ، وَلَا تَمْثِيلٍ.

Our duty is to believe in how Allah described and named Himself in His Book and through His Messenger, without distortion, denial, speculation about His nature, or anthropomorphism.

هَكَذَا قَالَ شَيْخُ الْإِسْلَامِ ابْنُ تَيْمِيَّةَ، وَغَيْرُهُ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْعِلْمِ.

This is the stance of Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and other scholars.

فَالْتَّحْرِيفُ فِي النُّصُوصِ، وَالتَّعْطِيلُ فِي الْمُعْتَقَدِ، وَالتَّكْيِيفُ فِي الصِّفَةِ، وَالتَّمْثِيلُ فِي الصِّفَةِ إِلَّا أَنَّهُ أَخَصُّ مِنَ التَّكْيِيفِ.

Distortion applies to texts, denial to belief, while speculation and anthropomorphism apply to attributes, with the latter being more specific than the former.

فَيَجِبُ أَنْ تَبْرَأَ عَقِيدَتُنَا مِنْ هَذِهِ الْأُمُورِ الْأَرْبَعَةِ.

Our creed must be cleared of these four errors.

وَنَعْنِي بِالتَّحْرِيفِ هُنَا: التَّأْوِيلُ الَّذِي سَلَكَهُ الْمُحَرِّفُونَ لِنُصُوصِ الصِّفَاتِ، لِأَنَّهُمْ سَمَّوْا أَنْفُسَهُمْ أَهْلَ التَّأْوِيلِ، لِأَجْلِ تَلْطِيفِ الْمَسْلَكِ الَّذِي سَلَكُوهُ؛

By distortion, we mean the interpretation used by those who alter the texts of the attributes; they call themselves 'people of interpretation' to soften the perception of their approach.

لِأَنَّ النُّفُوسَ تَنْفِرُ مِنْ كَلِمَةِ تَحْرِيفٍ، لَكِنَّ هَذَا مِنْ بَابِ زَخْرَفَةِ الْقَوْلِ وَتَزْيِينِهِ لِلنَّاسِ، حَتَّى لَا يَنْفِرُوا مِنْهُ.

Souls are naturally repulsed by the word 'distortion,' so they use this as a form of verbal embellishment to make their ideas more palatable to others.

وَحَقِيقَةُ تَأْوِيلِهِمُ التَّحْرِيفُ، وَهُوَ صَرْفُ اللَّفْظِ عَنْ ظَاهِرِهِ.

In reality, their interpretation is nothing but distortion, as it involves diverting words from their plain meaning.

Vocabulary · المفردات (18 verbs · 52 nouns)

• عَزَّ — to be mighty
• جَلَّ — to be majestic
• سَلَكَ — to follow
• وَصَفَ — to describe
• ضَلَّ — to go astray
• قَدَرَ — to revere
• وَصَمَ — to stigmatize
• جَعَلَ — to make
• حَطَّ — to lower
• آمَنَ — to believe
• سَمَّى — to name
• قَالَ — to say
• وَجَبَ — to be necessary
• بَرِئَ — to be free from
• عَنَى — to mean
• لَطَّفَ — to soften
• نَفَرَ — to be repulsed
• صَرَفَ — to divert
• كَلَام — speech
• غَايَة — extreme
• تَعْمِيَة — obscuration
• تَضْلِيل — misleading
• قَدْح — criticism
• مَسْلَك — path
• تَمْثِيل — anthropomorphism
• زَاعِم — claimant
• مُحَقِّق — verifier
• نَفْس — self
• حَقّ — truth
• قَدْر — value
• عَيْب — defect
• نَقْص — deficiency
• كَامِل — perfect
• وَجْه — aspect
• نَاقِص — imperfect
• تَفْضِيل — preference
• جِنَايَة — crime
• مُعَطِّل — denier
• جُرْم — sin
• وَاجِب — duty
• كِتَاب — book
• لِسَان — tongue
• رَسُول — messenger
• تَحْرِيف — distortion
• تَعْطِيل — denial
• تَكْيِيف — modalization
• شَيْخ — sheikh
• إِسْلَام — Islam
• غَيْر — other
• أَهْل — people
• عِلْم — knowledge
• نَصّ — text
• مُعْتَقَد — belief
• صِفَة — attribute
• أَخَصّ — more specific
• عَقِيدَة — creed
• أَمْر — matter
• أَرْبَعَة — four
• تَأْوِيل — interpretation
• مُحَرِّف — distorter
• كَلِمَة — word
• بَاب — category
• زَخْرَفَة — embellishment
• قَوْل — saying
• تَزْيِين — adornment
• نَاس — people
• حَقِيقَة — reality
• صَرْف — diverting
• لَفْظ — expression
• ظَاهِر — apparent