The Book of Stations
المواقف
Context: The Emir reads martyrdom inwardly: death to self is 'killing in God's way', the martyr living 'the life of their Lord' with otherness negated. The school reads oneness of being, borrowed existence veiled, not union; Ibn Taymiyya's line reads ittiḥād or ḥulūl. His Ashʿarī 'imposing the impossible' is his own application: knowing as living one declared dead.AI
قَالَ تَعَالَى: «وَلاَ تَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ قُتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَمْوَاتاً بَلْ أَحْيَاءٌ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ يُرْزَقُونَ».
God, exalted is He, said: “Do not reckon those who were killed in the way of God as dead; rather, they are living with their Lord, provided for” (Q 3:169).
In briefAI
Commenting on Q 3:169, the Emir says that those killed in God's way include both the battlefield dead and those who die to themselves through spiritual discipline. The verse, he argues, imposes the impossible: the senses and the Law judge the martyr dead, while faith and unveiling must know him alive. This life is neither figurative nor merely the spirit's, since every spirit lives. It is the life of their Lord. Their provision is His “with-ness”: veils and otherness are lifted, and identity is reached.
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 408 ↗, Damascus 1966, p. 409 ↗, Damascus 1966, p. 410 ↗, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 385 ↗, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 386 ↗ (archive.org)
الْخِطَابُ لَهُ– صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ– وَالْمَقْصُودُ كُلُّ مَنْ بَلَغَهُ الْكَلَامُ الْقَدِيمُ، وَالْقُرْآنُ الْكَرِيمُ، فَاِنَّهُ– صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ– لَمْ يَكُنْ بِالَّذِي يَظُنُّ مَوْتَ الشُّهَدَاءِ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ،
The address is to him (God bless him and grant him peace), but what is intended is everyone whom the eternal Speech, and the noble Qurʾān, has reached; for he (God bless him and grant him peace) was not one to suppose that the martyrs in the way of God are dead.
نَهَى تَعَالَى بِهَذِهِ الْآيَةِ عَنْ ظَنِّ الْمَقْتُولِينَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ اَنَّهُمْ اَمْوَاتٌ•
By this verse He, exalted is He, forbade supposing of those killed in the way of God that they are dead.
وَالْمَقْتُولُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ أَعَمُّ مِنَ الْمَقْتُولِينَ بِسُيُوفِ الْكُفَّارِ، أَعْدَاءِ الدِّينِ، الْقَتْلَ الطَّبِيعِيَّ الِاضْطِرَارِيَّ، وَمِنَ الْمَقْتُولِينَ بِصَوَاعِقِ الْمُجَاهَدَاتِ وَالرِّيَاضَاتِ الْقَتْلَ الِاخْتِيَارِيَّ، مِنْ حَيْثُ أَنَّ كِلَيْهِمَا تَحَلَّلَ تَرْكِيبُهُ وَفَسَدَ نِظَامُهُ الطَّبِيعِيُّ عَيْناً حِسّاً فِي الْأَوَّلِ، حُكْماً كَشْفاً فِي الثَّانِي•
Those killed in the way of God are a wider class than those killed by the swords of the unbelievers, the enemies of religion, with the natural, compulsory killing. They also include those killed by the thunderbolts of spiritual strivings and disciplines, with the voluntary killing. This is inasmuch as in both of them the composition has come apart and the natural order has been corrupted: in actual fact and to the senses in the first, by status and through unveiling in the second.
وَفِي الْآيَةِ دَلِيلٌ عَلَى التَّكْلِيفِ بِالْمُحَالِ الْعَقْلِيِّ وَالْعَادِيِّ، وَالْجَمْعِ بَيْنَ الضِّدَّيْنِ•
In the verse there is a proof of obligation being imposed with what is impossible, both rationally and by custom, and of the joining of the two opposites.
وَقَدْ جَوَّزَ الْأَشْعَرِيُّ التَّكْلِيفَ بِالْمُحَالِ، وَمَنَعَهُ الْمُعْتَزِلِيُّ، فَاِنَّ الْحِسَّ وَالْعَقْلَ لَايَصِحُّ عِنْدَهُمَا حَيَاةُ الْمَقْتُولِ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ، وَلَا يُدْرِكَانِ ذَلِكَ•
Al-Ashʿarī allowed obligation with the impossible, and the Muʿtazilite denied it. For with sense and intellect the life of the one killed in the way of God does not hold, and the two do not perceive it.
وَسَمَاّهُ تَعَالَى مَقْتُولاً تَصْدِيقاً لِاِدْرَاكِ الْحِسِّ، مَعَ النَّهْيِ عَنْ حِسْبَانِ مَوْتِهِ اِيمَاناً،
He, exalted is He, called him “killed” in confirmation of what the senses perceive, while forbidding, in faith, the reckoning of his death,
فَأَنْتَ مَنْهِيٌّ عَنْ ظَنِّ مَوْتِ الْمَقْتُولِ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ، وَفِي ضِمْنِ ذَلِكَ؛ الْأَمْرُ بِالْعِلْمِ بِحَيَاتِهِ اِيمَاناً وَكَشْفاً، كَمَا أَنَّكَ مَأْمُورٌ بِالْحُكْمِ بِمَوْتِهِ حِسّاً وَشَرْعاً، بِاِجْرَاءِ أَحْكَامِ الْأَمْوَاتِ عَلَيْهِ؛ كَالْمِيرَاثِ وَ تَزْوِيجِ الزَّوْجَةِ وَنَحْوِ ذَلِكَ،
So you are forbidden to suppose that the one killed in the way of God is dead. Contained within that is the command to know his life, by faith and by unveiling, just as you are commanded to judge him dead, by the senses and by the Law, applying to him the rulings for the dead, such as inheritance, the remarriage of his wife and the like.
وَلِذَا قَالَ فِي الْآيَةِ الْاُخْرَى: «وَلَٰكِنْ لاَ تَشْعُرُونَ⁽¹⁾».
That is why He said in the other verse: “but you are not aware” (Q 2:154).
أَيْ لَايَخْطُرُ لَكُمْ شُعُورٌ بِحَيَاتِهِمْ مِنْ جِهَةِ الْحِسِّ وَالْعَقْلِ، وَالشُّعُورُ أَوَّلُ مَرَاتِبِ وُصُولِ الْاِدْرَاكِ لِلنَّفْسِ، وَلَكِنْ يَحْصُلُ لَكُمُ الْعِلْمُ بِحَيَاتِهِمْ مِنْ جِهَةِ الْاِيمَانِ وَالْكَشْفِ،
That is: no awareness of their life occurs to you by way of the senses and the intellect (awareness being the first of the degrees by which perception reaches the soul). Rather, knowledge of their life comes to you by way of faith and unveiling.
وَلَيْسَ حَيَاةُ الْمَقْتُولِينَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ حَيَاةً مَجَازِيَّةً، كَمَا قَالَ بَعْضُ الْمُفَسِّرِينَ، وَلَا أَنَّ الْمُرَادَ بِحَيَاتِهِمْ حَيَاةُ أَرْوَاحِهِمْ، كَمَا قَالَ آخَرُونَ؛ اِذْ لَا خُصُوصِيَّةَ لِأَرْوَاحِهِمْ، فَاِنَّ الْأَرْوَاحَ كُلُّهَا حَيَّةٌ بِالذَّاتِ،
The life of those killed in the way of God is not a figurative life, as some commentators said. Nor is what is meant by their life the life of their spirits, as others said, since their spirits would then have nothing special: the spirits, all of them, are living by essence.
فَاِنَّ الَّذِى نُسَمِّيهِ فِي الْوَاجِبِ الْقَدِيمِ حَيَاةً، هُوَ الَّذِي نُسَمِّيهِ فِي الْمُمْكِنِ الْحَادِثِ رُوحاً، فَالرُّوحُ لَاتَمُوتُ، كَمَا أَنَّ الَّذِي نُسَمِّيهِ فِي الْحَادِثِ الْمُمْكِنِ نُطْقاً، هُوَ الَّذِي نُسَمِّيهِ فِي الْقَدِيمِ الْوَاجِبِ كَلَاماً،
For what we call “life” in the eternal Necessary is what we call “spirit” in the originated possible, so the spirit does not die; just as what we call “speech” in the originated possible is what we call “Speech” in the eternal Necessary.
وَاِنَّمَا حَيَاتُهُمُ الْخَاصَّةُ بِهِمْ ، أَنَّهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ ، أَيْ حَيَاتُهُمْ حَيَاةُ رَبِّهِمْ لَا حَيَاةٌ أُخْرَى ، كَمَا هُوَ الْأَمْرُ عِنْدَ غَيْرِهِمْ ،
يُرْزَقُونَ ، فَرِزْقُهُمْ ، عِنْدِيَّةُ رَبِّهِمْ ، كَمَا قَالَ لَهُمْ :
« وَابْتَغُوا عِنْدَ اللَّهِ الرِّزْقَ⁽²⁾ » .
وَقَالَ لِغَيْرِهِمْ : « وَفِي السَّمَاءِ رِزْقُكُمْ⁽³⁾ » .
فَاعْرِفْ قَدْرَ مَنْ رِزْقُهُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ ، وَمَنْ رِزْقُهُ عِنْدَ السَّمَاءِ ،
فَلَا تَظُنَّ الْعِنْدِيَّةَ هُنَا كَالْعِنْدِيَّةِ الْمَعْرُوفَةِ ، بَلْ هِيَ كَمَا فِي قَوْلِهِ : « إنَّمَا الْعِلْمُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ⁽⁴⁾ » .
وَعِلْمُهُ عَنْهُ ، فَهِيَ كِنَايَةٌ عَنْ رَفْعِ التَّعُّيُنَاتِ الْوَهْمِيَّةِ ، وَالْحُجُبِ الْخَلْقِيَّةِ ، وَنَفْيِ الْغَيْرِيَّةِ ، وَالْحُصُولِ عَلَى الْعَيْنِيَّةِ ،
وَقَدْ وَرَدَ فِي الْخَبَرِ الصَّحِيحِ : « يُغْفَرُ لِلشَّهِيدِ عِنْدَ اَوَّلِ قَطْرَةٍ مِنْ دَمِهِ » .
Quotes a hadith: Ibn Mājah 2799, in other words · graded al-Albānī: sahih; Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī: sahih; Shuʿayb al-Arnaʾūṭ: hasan; Zubayr ʿAlī Zaʾī: isnaad hasan (hadith-api open data) (grades ↗) · sunnah.com ↗
بِمَعْنَى يَسْتَتِرُ عَنْهُ الْوُجُودُ الْمَجَازِيُّ وَالْحَيَاةُ الْفَانِيَةُ ، وَيَحْصُلُ عَلَى الْوُجُودِ الْحَقِيقِيِّ وَالْحَيَاةِ الْبَاقِيَةِ .
وَشَهِيدُ الْمُعْتَرَكِ وَشَهِيدُ الْمَحَبَّةِ فِي ذَلِكَ سَوَاءٌ ،
بِخِلَافِ غَيْرِهِمْ مِنَ الْأَمْوَاتِ ، فَاِنَّهُمْ وَاِنْ كَانَتْ أَرْوَاحُهُمْ حَيَّةً ، فَلَيْسُوا عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ ، لِأَنَّهُمْ مَا رُفِعَ عَنْهُمْ حِجَابُ الْغَيْرِيَّةِ بَعْدُ ،
وَاِنْ رُفِعَتْ عَنْهُمْ بَعْضُ الْحُجُبِ كُوشِفُوا بِبَعْضِ الْمُغَيَّبَاتِ كَالْجَنَّةِ وَالنَّارِ وَمَا أَشْبَهَ ذَلِكَ .
Translations, word glosses and term notes are AI-generated (Claude) and marked as such; no published translation is reproduced.Word analysis is automatic (CAMeL Tools), guided by the text's vowelling. How this text was established.