The Book of Stations
المواقف
Context: The Emir reads taqwā through the Akbarian view that all things are loci of divine names, harm coming from the names of majesty, not an independent power; Ashʿarīs and Ibn ʿArabī's school ascribe all acts to God. Ibn Taymiyya rejects this unitive refuge and the oneness of being behind it. The Magian anecdote targets the Qadariyya, not Zoroastrians.AI
قَالَ تَعَالَى: «يَاأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ⁽¹⁾».
God, exalted is He, says: “O you who believe, guard yourselves against God as He should truly be guarded against” (Q 3:102).
In briefAI
The Emir gives an allusive reading of “guard yourselves against God as He should truly be guarded against” (Q 3:102). For ordinary believers it means believing that God alone harms, benefits, gives and withholds. Its full reality is that the One by whom one seeks protection is the One from whom one seeks it, as in the Prophet's “I seek refuge in You from You.” Satan, the Fire and evil are loci of God's names of majesty, not rivals to Him. A joke about a Magian and a Qadarite shows that treating them as rivals is dualism. The knower sees only God and His manifestations and seeks shelter in His names of beauty from His names of majesty.
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 1142 ↗, Damascus 1966, p. 1143 ↗ (archive.org)
مَا قَالَهُ الْمُفَسِّرُونَ فِي الْآيَةِ مَشْهُورٌ، وَنَحْنُ نَقُولُ مِنْ بَابِ الْاِشَارَةِ:
What the exegetes have said about the verse is well known; we, for our part, speak by way of allusion:
اعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ- تَعَالَى- أَمَرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ الَّذِينَ لَيْسَ لَهُمْ عِلْمٌ نَظَرِيٌّ وَلَا كَشْفٌ رَبَّانِيٌّ أَنْ يُفْرِدُوا اللَّهَ اعْتِقَاداً بِالضَّرِّ وَالنَّفْعِ وَالْعَطَاءِ وَالْمَنْعِ،
Know that God, exalted is He, has commanded the believers who have neither speculative knowledge nor lordly unveiling to single out God, in their belief, with harm and benefit, giving and withholding;
وَهُوَ مَعْنَى (اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ) أَيْ كَمَا يَجِبُ أَنْ يُتَّقَى.
and this is the meaning of “guard yourselves against God as He should truly be guarded against” (Q 3:102), that is, as it is incumbent that He be guarded against.
وَالتُّقَى اسْمُ فِعْلٍ مِنِ اتَّقَيْتُ، كَالْهُدَى مِنِ اهْتَدَيْتُ.
Tuqā is a noun of the act from ittaqaytu (“I guarded myself”), like hudā from ihtadaytu (“I was guided”).
وَلِكُلٍّ حَقٍّ حَقِيقَةٌ كَمَا وَرَدَ فِي الصَّحِيحِ أَنَّهُ- صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ- قَالَ لِحَارِثَةَ: «اِنَّ لِكُلِّ حَقٍّ حَقِيقَةً».
Quotes a hadith: not found in the Six Books or the Muwaṭṭaʾ (sunnah.com data, 11 Nov 2026) · grade not yet checked by a person
Every truth has a reality, as has come down in the sound report that he, God bless him and grant him peace, said to Ḥāritha: “Every truth has a reality.”
لَمَّا قَالَ لَهُ حَارِثَةُ: أَصْبَحْتُ مُؤْمِناً حَقّاً،
Quotes a hadith: not found in the Six Books or the Muwaṭṭaʾ (sunnah.com data, 11 Nov 2026) · grade not yet checked by a person
This was when Ḥāritha said to him: “I have risen this morning a true believer.”
وَحَقِيقَتُهُ اتِّقَاءُ اللَّهِ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ، هُوَ اَنْ يُتَّقَى مَنْ بِهِ يُتَّقَى بِهِ مِنْ غَيْرِهِ وَلَا يُتَّقَى مِنْهُ بِغَيْرِهِ،
Its reality is guarding oneself against God as He should truly be guarded against: that the One by whom one guards oneself be the One guarded against, one guarding oneself by Him from what is other than Him, and not guarding oneself against Him by what is other than Him,
كَمَا قَالَ السَّيِّدُ الْكَامِلُ- صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ-: «أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْكَ» وَقَالَ «لَا مَلْجَأَ وَلَا مَنْجَأَ مِنْكَ اِلَّا اِلَيْكَ».
Quotes a hadith: Muslim 486, part of it · in a Ṣaḥīḥ, no separate grade · sunnah.com ↗
Quotes a hadith: al-Bukhārī 247, part of it · in a Ṣaḥīḥ, no separate grade · sunnah.com ↗
as the perfect master, God bless him and grant him peace, said: “I seek refuge in You from You,” and said: “There is no shelter and no escape from You except in You.”
فَالْمُتَّقِي اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ لَا يَرَى غَيْراً وَلَا سِوًى يُتَّقَى مِنْهُ أَوْ بِهِ،
So the one who guards himself against God as He should truly be guarded against sees no other and no ‘besides’ to be guarded against or to guard oneself by,
وَلَا يَرَى ضَارّاً وَلَا نَافِعاً اِلَّا اللَّهَ- تَعَالَى- اِذْ مَا ثَمَّ اِلَّا مَظَاهِرُ أَسْمَائِهِ وَتَعَيُّنَاتُ صِفَاتِهِ،
and he sees no one who harms or benefits except God, exalted is He, since there is nothing there but the loci of manifestation of His names and the determinations of His attributes,
وَاِنْ كَانَ اللَّهُ- تَعَالَى- حَذَّرَنَا مِنْ مَظَاهِرِ الشَّرِّ وَالضَّرِّ وَأَمَرَنَا بِاتِّقَائِهِ كَمَا قَالَ: «اتَّقُوا النَّارَ» وَحَذَّرَنَا مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ وَأَمَرَنَا بِالِاسْتِعَاذَةِ بِاللَّهِ مِنْهُ،
And though God, exalted is He, has warned us against the loci of manifestation of evil and harm and commanded us to guard ourselves against it, as He said, “Guard yourselves against the Fire” (Q 2:24; 3:131), and has warned us against Satan and commanded us to seek refuge in God from him,
فَلَيْسَ الْمُرَادُ مِنْ ذَٰلِكَ أَنْ نَجْعَلَهُ كَالْمُقَابِلِ لِلَّهِ- تَعَالَى- الْمُضَادِّ لَهُ كَمَا عَلَيْهِ الْجَهَلَةُ بِاللَّهِ- تَعَالَى- فَاِنَّ هَٰذَا شِرْكٌ وَلَا سِيَّمَا الْقَدَرِيَّةُ.
what is meant by this is not that we should make him like a counterpart to God, exalted is He, opposed to Him, as do those ignorant of God, exalted is He; for this is associating partners with God, above all [in the case of] the Qadariyya.
رُوِيَ أَنَّهُ اصْطَحَبَ مَجُوسِيٌّ وَقَدَرِيٌّ فِي سَفَرٍ فَقَالَ الْقَدَرِيُّ لِلْمَجُوسِيِّ: مَالَكَ لَا تُسْلِمُ:
It is related that a Magian and a Qadarite kept company on a journey, and the Qadarite said to the Magian: “Why do you not become a Muslim?”
فَقَالَ الْمَجُوسِيُّ: اِذَا أَذِنَ اللَّهُ فِي ذَٰلِكَ كَانَ.
The Magian said: “When God permits it, it will be.”
فَقَالَ لَهُ الْقَدَرِيُّ: اِنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَذِنَ اِلَّا أَنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ لَايَتْرُكُكَ تُسْلِمُ.
The Qadarite said to him: “God has permitted it, but Satan does not let you become a Muslim.”
فَقَالَ لَهُ الْمَجُوسِيُّ: أَنَا مَعَ أَقْوَاهُمَا!!
The Magian said to him: “I am with the stronger of the two!”
فَلَيْسَ كُلُّ مَنْ قَالَ: (أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ بِهِ) اسْتَعَاذَ وَلَا تَحَصَّنَ بِاللَّهِ وَلَا بِهِ، لَاذَ حَتَّى يَعْلَمَ اللَّهَ الْمُسْتَعَاذَ بِهِ هُوَ الْمُسْتَعَاذَ مِنْهُ، لِجَمْعِهِ الْأَسْمَاءَ الْمُتَقَابِلَهَ، كَالضَّارِّ وَالنَّافِعِ وَالْمُعْطِي وَالْمَانِعِ.
So not everyone who says “I seek refuge in God, by Him” has sought refuge, or fortified himself in God, or taken shelter in Him, until he knows God, the One in whom refuge is sought, to be the One from whom refuge is sought, because He unites the opposed names, such as the Harmer and the Benefiter, the Giver and the Withholder.
فَالْمُتَّقِي اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ لَا يَرَى فِي الْوُجُودِ اِلاَّ اللَّهَ وَمَظَاهِرَهُ وَتَعَيُّنَاتِهِ، فَيَتَّقِي بِأَسْمَاءِ الْجَمَالِ وَالرَّحْمَةِ مِنْ أَسْمَاءِ الْجَلَالِ وَالنِّقْمَةِ
So the one who guards himself against God as He should truly be guarded against sees nothing in existence but God, His loci of manifestation and His determinations; and he guards himself by the names of beauty and mercy against the names of majesty and vengeance.
قَالَ تَعَالَى:
God, exalted is He, says:
«فَلَا تَخَافُوهُمْ وَخَافُونِ».
“So do not fear them, but fear Me” (Q 3:175).
مِنْ حَيْثُ أَنَّهُمْ سِوًى وَأَغْيَارٌ وَخَافُونِ مِنْهُمْ، فَاِنَّهُمْ مَظَاهِرُ أَسْمَائِي الْجَلَالِيَّةِ الْقَهْرِيَّةِ،
[Do not fear them] inasmuch as they are other [than God] and others; and fear Me from them, for they are the loci of manifestation of My Names of majesty and subjugation;
اِذْ لَابُدَّ لِأَسْمَاءِ الْقَهْرِ وَالِانْتِقَامِ مِنْ مَظَاهِرَ، كَمَا أَنَّهُ لَابُدَّ لِاَسْمَاءِالرَّحْمَةِ وَالْخَيْرِ وَاللُّطْفِ مِنْ مَظَاهِرَ يَخْلُقُ اللَّهُ عِنْدَهَا وَبِهَا مَا يَشَاءُ مِنْ قَهْرٍ أَوْ رَحْمَةٍ،
since the Names of subjugation and vengeance must have loci of manifestation, just as the Names of mercy, goodness and gentleness must have loci of manifestation, at which and by which God creates whatever He wills of subjugation or mercy.
فَهِيَ كَالْآلَاتِ، وَاللَّهُ غَنِيٌّ عَنِ الْعَالَمِينَ.
So they are like instruments, and God is independent of the worlds.
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.