Sharh al-Arba'in al-Nawawiyya by Ibn Uthaymeen (شرح الأربعين النووية) — Page 252

Line-by-line translation · المعاني

وَالْأَرْضُ بِخَمْسِينَ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ وَفِيهِ الْعِبَارَاتُ الدَّالَّةُ عَلَى الْمَاضِي مِثْلُ قَوْلِهِ: ﴿وَإِذْ غَدَوْتَ مِنْ أَهْلِكَ تُبَوِّئُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ مَقَاعِدَ لِلْقِتَالِ﴾ وَمِثْلُ قَوْلِهِ: ﴿قَدْ سَمِعَ اللَّهُ قَوْلَ الَّتِي تُجَادِلُكَ﴾ وَهُوَ حِينَ كِتَابَتِهِ قَبْلَ خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ بِخَمْسِينَ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ لَمْ يَسْمَعْ قَوْلَهَا، لِأَنَّ الْمُجَادِلَةَ لَمْ تُخْلَقْ أَصْلًا حَتَّى تُسْمَعَ مُجَادَلَتُهَا؟

And the earth fifty thousand years [before], and in it are expressions indicating the past, such as His saying: 'And [remember] when you left your family to post the believers in stations for the battle,' and such as His saying: 'Allah has heard the speech of the one who argues with you,' yet at the time of its writing, fifty thousand years before the creation of the heavens and the earth, He had not heard her speech, because the woman who was arguing had not been created at all so that her argument could be heard?

فَالْجَوَابُ: أَنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ عَلِمَ ذَلِكَ وَكَتَبَهُ فِي اللَّوْحِ الْمَحْفُوظِ، كَمَا أَنَّهُ عَلِمَ الْمَقَادِيرَ وَكَتَبَهَا فِي اللَّوْحِ الْمَحْفُوظِ وَعِنْدَ تَقْدِيرِهَا يَتَكَلَّمُ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ بِقَوْلِهِ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ هَكَذَا قَرَّرَهُ شَيْخُ الْإِسْلَامِ ابْنُ تَيْمِيَّةَ - رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ - وَهُوَ مِمَّا تَطْمَئِنُّ لَهُ النَّفْسُ.

The answer is: Allah knew that and wrote it in the Preserved Tablet, just as He knew the decrees and wrote them in the Preserved Tablet, and at the time of their decreeing, Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, speaks by saying 'Be,' and it is; this is how Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah have mercy on him—established it, and it is something that brings peace to the soul.

وَكُنْتُ مِنْ قَبْلُ أَقُولُ: إِنَّ الَّذِي فِي اللَّوْحِ الْمَحْفُوظِ ذِكْرُ الْقُرْآنِ لَا الْقُرْآنُ، بِنَاءً عَلَى أَنَّهُ يَرِدُ بِلَفْظِ الْمَاضِي قَبْلَ الْوُقُوعِ، وَأَنَّ هَذَا كَقَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى عَنِ الْقُرْآنِ: ﴿وَإِنَّهُ لَفِي زُبُرِ الْأَوَّلِينَ﴾ وَالَّذِي فِي زُبُرِ الْأَوَّلِينَ لَيْسَ الْقُرْآنُ، بَلْ ذِكْرُ الْقُرْآنِ وَالتَّنْوِيهُ عَنْهُ، وَلَكِنْ بَعْدَ أَنِ اطَّلَعْتُ عَلَى كَلَامِ شَيْخِ الْإِسْلَامِ ابْنِ تَيْمِيَّةَ - جَزَاهُ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا - انْشَرَحَ صَدْرِي إِلَى أَنَّهُ مَكْتُوبٌ فِي اللَّوْحِ الْمَحْفُوظِ وَلَا مَانِعَ مِنْ ذَلِكَ، وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى عِنْدَ إِنْزَالِهِ إِلَى مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَتَكَلَّمُ بِهِ وَيُلْقِيهِ إِلَى جِبْرِيلَ.

I used to say before: that what is in the Preserved Tablet is a mention of the Quran, not the Quran itself, based on the fact that it appears in the past tense before it occurs, and that this is like His saying, the Exalted, about the Quran: 'And indeed, it is in the scriptures of the former peoples,' and what is in the scriptures of the former peoples is not the Quran, but rather a mention of the Quran and a reference to it; however, after I examined the words of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah reward him with good—my heart was opened to the fact that it is written in the Preserved Tablet and there is no objection to that, but that Allah, the Exalted, when revealing it to Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, speaks it and delivers it to Gabriel.

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Vocabulary · المفردات (23 verbs · 44 nouns)

• غَدَا — to go early
• بَوَّأَ — to assign a place
• سَمِعَ — to hear
• أَرْض — earth
• سَنَة — year
• عِبَارَة — expression