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 300 · “God is the Creator of every thing”
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 979, Damascus 1966, p. 980, Damascus 1966, p. 981 (archive.org)
قَالَ تَعَالَى: «اللَّهُ خَالِقُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ».
He, exalted, has said: "God is the Creator of every thing" (Q 39:62).
اِعْلَمْ أَنَّ الْخَلْقَ خَلْقَانِ، خَلْقُ تَقْدِيرٍ مُنْفَكٌّ عَنِ الْاِيجَادِ، وَهُوَ الْمُشَـارُ اِلَيْهِ بِقَوْلِهِ: «وَقَدْ خَلَقْتُكَ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَلَمْ تَكُ شَيْئاً».
Know that creation is of two kinds. One is a creation of determining, detached from bringing into existence, and it is what His words point to: "I created you before, when you were nothing" (Q 19:9).
أَيْ قَدَّرْتُكَ فِي الْعَدَمِ، وَلَمْ تَكُ شَيْئاً مُقَدَّراً ثَابِتاً فِي مَرْتَبَةِ الثُّبُوتِ، الْعَارِيَةِ عَنِ الْوُجُودِ•
That is: I determined you in non-existence, and you were not a thing, being determined and fixed in the rank of fixity, which is bare of existence.
قَالَ هَذَا لِزَكَرِيَّا- عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ- حَيْثُ قَالَ مُتَعَجِّباً وَمُسْتَبْعِداً: «أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِي غُلَامٌ وَقَدْ بَلَغَنِيَ ٱلْكِبَرُ وَٱمْرَأَتِي عَاقِرٌ».
He said this to Zakariyyā, peace be upon him, when he said, in wonder and finding it unlikely: "How shall I have a son, when old age has reached me and my wife is barren?" (Q 3:40).
وَمَا قَالَ هَذَا لِامْرَأَةِ الْخَلِيلِ- عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ- حَيْثُ قَالَتْ مُسْتَبْعِدَةً وَمُتَعَجِّبَةً: «يَا وَيْلَتَا أَأَلِدُ وَأَنَا عَجُوزٌ وَهَٰذَا بَعْلِي شَيْخاً إِنَّ هَٰذَا لَشَيْءٌ عَجِيبٌ».
He did not say this to the wife of the Friend, peace be upon him, when she said, finding it unlikely and in wonder: "Woe is me! Shall I bear a child when I am an old woman, and this husband of mine is an old man? This is indeed a strange thing!" (Q 11:72).
لِأَنَّ زَكَرِيَّا لَهُ الِاطِّلَاعُ عَلَى أَغْوَارِ هَذِهِ الْعُلُومِ، بِخِلَافِ امْرَأَةِ الْخَلِيلِ– عَلَيْهِمَا السَّلَامُ–•
For Zakariyyā had insight into the depths of these sciences, unlike the wife of the Friend, peace be upon them both.
وَالْخَلْقُ الثَّانِي مَقْرُونٌ بِاِيجَادٍ خَارِجِيٍّ، وَهُوَ الْمُشَارُ اِلَيْهِ بِقَوْلِهِ: «مَا غَرَّكَ بِرَبِّكَ ٱلْكَرِيمِ ٱلَّذِي خَلَقَكَ فَسَوَّاكَ فَعَدَلَكَ⁽¹⁾».
The second creation is joined to an external bringing into existence, and it is what His words point to: "What has deluded you about your Lord, the Generous, who created you, then fashioned you, then proportioned you?" (Q 82:6–7).
وَكَذَلِكَ الشَّيْئِيَّةُ شَيْئِيَّتَانِ: شَيْئِيَّةُ ثُبُوتٍ مِنْ غَيْرِ اِيجَادٍ، وَهِيَ الْمُشَارُ اِلَيْهَا بِقَوْلِهِ: «إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُ إِذَا أَرَادَ شَيْئاً أَنْ يَقُولَ لَهُ كُنْ فَيَكُونُ⁽²⁾».
Likewise thingness is of two kinds. One is a thingness of fixity without bringing into existence, and it is what His words point to: "His command, when He wills a thing, is only to say to it 'Be!', and it is" (Q 36:82).
فَمَا قَالَ «كُنْ» اِلاّ لِشَيْءٍ ثَابِتٍ فِي مَرْتَبَةِ الثُّبُوتِ، غَيْرِ مَوْجُودٍ، فَأَمَرَهُ بِالْوُجُودِ؛ فَكَانَ مَوْجُوداً لِنَفْسِهِ•
For He said "Be!" only to a thing fixed in the rank of fixity, not existent; so He commanded it to exist, and it became existent for itself.
وَالشَّيْئِيَّةُ الثَّانِيَةُ شَيْئِيَّةُ وُجُودٍ، وَهِيَ الْمُشَارُ اِلَيْهَا بِقَوْلِهِ: «قُلْ أَيُّ شَيْءٍ أَكْبَرُ شَهَادَةً⁽³⁾».
The second thingness is a thingness of existence, and it is what His words point to: "Say: What thing is greatest in testimony?" (Q 6:19).
أَيْ مَوْجُودٍ•
That is: what existent [is greatest].
فَقَوْلُهُ: «اللَّهُ خَالِقُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ». يَصِحُّ أَنْ يُحْمَلَ عَلَى الْخَلْقِ التَّقْدِيرِيِّ وَالْاِيجَادِيِّ•
So His words "God is the Creator of every thing" (Q 39:62) can rightly be taken to refer both to creation as determining and to creation as bringing into existence.
وَالشَّيْءُ يَصِحُّ أَنْ يُحْمَلَ عَلَى الثَّابِتِ وَعَلَى الْمَوْجُودِ•
And "thing" can rightly be taken to refer to the fixed and to the existent.
فَالْخَلْقُ بِقِسْمَيْهِ، وَالشَّيْءُ بِقِسْمَيْهِ مُخْتَصٌّ بِالْمُمْكِنِ•
So creation in both its kinds, and the thing in both its kinds, belong specifically to the possible.
وَهُوَ الْمُرَادُ بِقَوْلِهِ: «لِتَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ⁽⁴⁾».
And it is what is meant by His words: "that you may know that God has power over every thing" (Q 65:12).
وَأَمَّا الْمُحَالُ فَلَا خَلْقَ وَلَا شَيْئِيَّةَ لَهُ ثُبُوتِيَّةً، فَلَا تَتَعَلَّقُ بِهِ اِرَادَةٌ،
As for the impossible, it has no creation and no thingness of fixity, so no will attaches to it;
بَلِ الْمُحَالُ لِذَاتِهِ غَيْرُ مَعْلُومٍ عِلْمَ اِحَاطَةٍ، فَاِنَّهُ تَعَالَى يَعْلَمُ الْمُحَالَ مُحَالاً فَقَطْ،
rather, the impossible-in-itself is not known with a knowledge that encompasses it, for He, exalted, knows the impossible only as impossible,
وَلَا يُحِيطُ بِهِ اسْمُ الْمُحِيطِ، حَيْثُ أَنَّهُ لَا صُورَةَ لَهُ، كَمَا هِيَ لِلْمُمْكِنِ،
and the name the Encompassing does not encompass it, since it has no form, as the possible has;
فَلَا يُحِيطُ الِاسْمُ الْمُحِيطُ اِلاّ بِمُسَمَّى الشَّيْءِ، وَهُوَ الْمُمْكِنُ الثَّابِتُ الْمَعْدُومُ، الَّذِي لَهُ صُورَةٌ فِي الْعِلْمِ، سَوَاءٌ وُجِدَ فِي الْخَارِجِ أَمْ لَمْ يُوجَدْ،
so the name the Encompassing encompasses only what bears the name "thing": the possible, fixed and non-existent, which has a form in knowledge, whether it has come to exist in the outside world or not.
فَهُوَ قَابِلٌ لِلْاِيجَادِ، فَلِذَا هِيَ عِلَّةُ الْاِيجَادِ، مُرَكَّبَةٌ مِنَ الْفَاعِلِ وَالْقَابِلِ، وَهُوَ الْمُمْكِنُ،
so it is receptive of bringing into existence; and for this reason it, the cause of bringing into existence, is compounded of the agent and the receptive, the receptive being the possible.
فَالْوُجُودُ بَيْنَ الِاقْتِدَارِ الْاِلَهِيِّ وَبَيْنَ الْقَبُولِ مِنَ الْمُمْكِنِ، مَهْمَا ارْتَفَعَ وَاحِدٌ مِنْهُمَا؛ ارْتَفَعَ الْوُجُودُ الْحَادِثُ،
Existence, then, lies between the divine power and the reception on the part of the possible; whenever either of the two is removed, originated existence is removed.
وَلَيْسَ ذَلِكَ عَجْزاً فِي الِاقْتِدَارِ الْاِلَهِيِّ، وَاِنَّمَا ذَلِكَ لِعَدَمِ تَعَلُّقِ الْاِرَادَةِ بِهِ، لِأَنَّهُ لَا اسْتِعْدَادَ لَهُ لِلْوُجُودِ،
That is no incapacity in the divine power; it is only because the will does not attach to it, since it has no preparedness for existence.
وَالْحَقُّ- تَعَالَى- اِنَّمَا يُعْطِي الْوُجُودَ لِلْمُسْتَعِدِّ، الطَّالِبِ لِلْوُجُودِ بِاسْتِعْدَادِهِ، فَهُوَ الْجَوَادُ الْحَكِيمُ، لَايَمْنَعُ مُسْتَعِدّاً طَالِباً، وَلَايُعْطِي غَيْرَ مُسْتَعِدٍّ طَالِبٍ.
The Real, exalted, gives existence only to what is prepared, seeking existence through its preparedness; for He is the Generous, the Wise: He does not withhold from what is prepared and seeking, and does not give to what is not prepared and seeking.
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