al-Amīr ʿAbd al-Qādir b. Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Jazāʾirī · Kitāb al-Mawāqif fī baʿḍ ishārāt al-Qurʾān ilā al-asrār wa-l-maʿārif
المواقف
The Book of Stations
Mawqif 201 · “Is there a god alongside God?”
In briefAI
Starting from Q 6:19, “Do you indeed bear witness that there are other gods alongside God?”, the Emir reads the question as a prohibition. “Alongside” would need two existences, and existence is one. Many forms do not make many realities, as the single human reality has many members, and many names do not divide one named. What is worshipped in every form is one God with many loci of manifestation. The knower sees all forms as having no existence alongside God, and there is no existence but God's.
Context: the Emir reads the Qurʾān’s denial of other gods through the teaching of the oneness of being, in which every worshipped form is a place where the one Real appears. It is a metaphysical reading, not an approval of other worship.
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 438, Damascus 1966, p. 439, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 411, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 412 (archive.org)
قَالَ تَعَالَى: «أَئِنَّكُمْ لَتَشْهَدُونَ أَنَّ مَعَ اللّٰهِ آلِهَةً أُخْرَىٰ» الْآيَةَ.
He, exalted is He, said: "Do you indeed bear witness that there are other gods alongside God?" (Q 6:19), the verse.
الِاسْتِفْهَامُ اِنْكَارِيٌّ، مَعْنَاهُ النَّهْيُ•
The question is one of denial; its meaning is a prohibition.
أَيْ لَاتَشْهَدُوا صُورَةً عُبِدَتْ• اَنَّهَا عُبِدَتْ مَعَ اللَّهِ، أَيَّ صُورَةٍ كَانَتْ حِسِّيَّةً أَوْ مَعْنَوِيَّةً،
That is: do not bear witness of any form that has been worshipped that it was worshipped alongside God, whatever form it may be, sensory or conceptual;
اِذِ الْمَعِيَّةُ فِي اللِّسَانِ الْمُتَوَاضَعِ عَلَيْهِ تَقْتَضِي وُجُودَيْنِ، وَلَيْسَ الْوُجُودُ اِلاَّ وَاحِداً،
for "being-with", in the conventionally agreed language, requires two existences, and existence is nothing but one;
وَقَدْ قَضَى أَنْ لَانَعْبُدَ اِلاَّ اِيَّاهُ، فَلَا يُمْكِنُ أَنْ يُعْبَدَ مَعَهُ سِوَاهُ،
and He has decreed that we worship none but Him, so it is not possible that anything other than Him be worshipped alongside Him.
وَلَا يَلْزَمُ مِن تَعَدُّدِ الصُّوَرِ تَعَدُّدُ الْحَقِيقَةِ، فَاِنَّ الْحَقِيقَةَ الْاِنْسَانِيَّةَ وَاحِدَةٌ بِاِجْمَاعِ الْعُقَلَاءِ•
The multiplicity of forms does not entail the multiplicity of the reality: the human reality is one by the consensus of the rational.
وَصُوَرُهَا لَا تُحْصَى كَثْرَةً، فَاِنَّ السَّمْعَ وَالْبَصَرَ وَالشَّمَّ وَالْيَدَ وَالرِّجْلَ، كُلُّهَا صُوَرُهَا،
yet its forms are beyond counting in number; for hearing, sight, smell, the hand and the foot are all of them its forms.
قُلْ لَا أَشْهَدُ مَا شَهِدْتُمُوهُ مِن تَعَدُّدِ الْآلِهِيَّةِ•
"Say: I do not bear witness" (Q 6:19) to what you bore witness to, a multiplicity of divinity.
وَاِنَّمَا أَشْهَدُ آلِهاً وَاحِداً تَعَدَّدَتْ مَظَاهِرُهُ، وَالْعَيْنُ وَاحِدَةٌ كَالْأَسْمَاءِ الْمُتَعَدِّدَةِ لِلْمُسَمَّى الْوَاحِدِ، فَهَلْ ذَلِكَ قَادِحٌ فِي وَحْدَةِ الْمُسَمَّى؟
I behold only one God whose loci of manifestation are multiple, while the entity is one, like the many names of a single named one: does that impair the oneness of the named?
وَلِهَذَا قَالَ• «إِنَّمَا هُوَ إِلَٰهٌ وَاحِدٌ».
That is why He said: "He is only one God" (Q 6:19).
أَيِ الْمَعْبُودُ فِي كُلِّ صُورَةٍ هُوَ اِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ عَيْناً، وَحَقِيقَةً وَوُجُوداً،
That is, what is worshipped in every form is one God, in entity, in reality and in existence;
فَلَيْسَ هُنَالِكَ آلِهَةٌ مَعَ اللَّهِ، كَمَا قَالَ تَعَالَى فِي آيَةِ النَّمْلِ: «أَإِلَٰهٌ مَعَ اللّٰهِ».
so there are no gods there alongside God, as He, exalted is He, said in the verse of al-Naml: "Is there a god alongside God?" (Q 27:60).
أَيْ لَا اِلَهَ مَعَ اللَّهِ، فَهُوَ اِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ تَعَدَّدَتْ تَعَيُّنَاتُهُ وَمَظَاهِرُهُ،
That is, there is no god alongside God: He is one God whose determinations and loci of manifestation are multiple.
بَلْ هُمْ قَوْمٌ يَعْدِلُونَ عَنْ شُهُودِ الْوَحْدَةِ الْحَقِيقِيَّةِ، اِلَى الْكَثْرَةِ الْمَجَازِيَّةِ الِاعْتِبَارِيَّةِ،
"Rather they are a people who swerve" (Q 27:60) from beholding the real oneness to the figurative multiplicity that exists only in consideration.
فَالْعَارِفُ يَرَى جَمِيعَ الصُّوَرِ الْمَعْبُودَةِ وَغَيْرِ الْمَعْبُـودَةِ، لَيْسَ لَهَا وُجُودٌ مَـعَ اللَّهِ،
The knower sees all forms, worshipped and not worshipped, as having no existence alongside God;
وَاِنَّمَـا وُجُودُهَا هُوَ وُجُودُ اللَّهِ الْوَاحِدِ الْعَيْنِ، وَالْحَقِيقَةِ وَالصُّوَرُ ظُهُورَاتُهُ وَتَعَيُّنَاتُهُ،
rather, their existence is the existence of God, one in entity and reality, and the forms are His manifestations and determinations.
وَالظُّهُورُ وَالتَّعُّيُنُ وَالتَّعَدُّدُ اعْتِبَارَاتٌ عَقْلِيَّةٌ لَا وُجُودِيَّةٌ خَارِجِيَّةٌ، وَلَكِنَّ الْحِجَابَ صَيَّرَهَا كَمَا يَرَاهَا الْمَحْجُوبُ•
Manifestation, determination and multiplicity are rational considerations, not extra-mental existents; but the veil has made them what the veiled one sees them to be.
وَهَذَا التَّوْحِيدُ الَّذِي قَدَّمْنَاهُ هُوَ الَّذِي أَمَرَ اللَّهُ- تَعَالَى- بِهِ عِبَادَهُ، وَجَاءَتْ بِهِ الرُّسُلُ- عَلَيْهِمُ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ-،
This affirmation of oneness that we have set out is the one God, exalted is He, commanded His servants to hold, and which the messengers, blessings and peace upon them, brought.
فَاِنَّهُ- تَعَالَى- أَمَرَ بِتَوْحِيدِ حَقِيقَةِ أُلُوهِيَّتِهِ، فَاِنَّهَا وَاحِدَةٌ، وُجِدَ الْمُوَحِّدُ اَوْ عُدِمَ،
For He, exalted is He, commanded the affirmation of the oneness of the reality of His divinity, for it is one, whether the one who affirms oneness exists or does not;
وَمَا أَمَرَ بِتَوْحِيدِ الصُّورَةِ وَالتَّعَيُّنَاتِ، فَاِنَّهَا اَعْدَامٌ اعْتِبَارِيَّةٌ،
and He did not command the affirmation of the oneness of the form and the determinations, for they are non-existences existing only in consideration;
وَاِنَّمَا أَمَرَ بِشُهُودِ وَحْدَتِهِ فِي أُلُوهَتِهِ، وَسَرَيَانِ هُوِيَّتِهِ فِي مَظَاهِرِهِ الْمُتَعَدِّدَةِ، وَتَعَيُّنَاتِهِ الْمُتَكَثِّرَةِ،
rather, He commanded the beholding of His oneness in His divinity, and of the pervading of His He-ness through His many loci of manifestation and His multiplied determinations.
وَحِينَئِذٍ يَكُونُ هُوَ الَّذِي وَحَّدَ نَفْسَهُ بِنَفْسِهِ، فَيَصِحُّ قَوْلُهُ: لَا اِلَهَ اِلاَّ اللَّهُ، بِمَعْنَى نَفْيِ تَعَدُّدِ الْاِلَهِ فِي أُلُوهَتِهِ، وَاِنْ تَعَدَّدَتْ مَظَاهِرُهُ•
Then it is He who has affirmed His own oneness by Himself, and his saying "There is no god but God" is valid, in the sense of denying the multiplicity of the God in His divinity, even if His loci of manifestation are multiple.
وَلَا وُجُودَ اِلاَّ وُجُودُ اللَّهِ•
And there is no existence but the existence of God.
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.
Hear when new texts are published
Occasional news of a new text or a new layer. If there is a text you would like to read here, say so below.