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 50 · “God killed them”: whose act is it?
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 103, Damascus 1966, p. 104, Damascus 1966, p. 105, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 111, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 112 (archive.org)
قَالَ تَعَالَى: «فَلَمْ تَقْتُلُوهُمْ وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ قَتَلَهُمْ».
He, exalted is He, said: “You did not kill them, but God killed them” (Q 8:17).
اعْلَمْ أَنَّ نِسْبَةَ الْفِعْلِ الصَّادِرِ فِي بَادِىءِ الرَّأْيِ مِنَ الْمَخْلُوقِ؛ جَاءَتْ مُتَنَوِّعَةً فِي الْكِتَابِ وَالسُّنَّةِ،
Know that the attribution of the act which, at first sight, issues from the created being has come in various ways in the Book and the Sunna:
فَمَرَّةً جَاءَتْ نِسْبَةُ الْفِعْلِ اِلَى الْمَخْلُوقِ وَمَرَّةً اِلَى اللَّهِ تَعَالَي، وَمَرَّةً اِلَى اللَّهِ- تَعَالَى- بِالْعَبْدِ، وَمَرَّةً اِلَى الْعَبْدِ بِاللَّهِ- تَعَالَى-
at times the act is attributed to the created being, at times to God, exalted is He, at times to God, exalted is He, through the servant, and at times to the servant through God, exalted is He.
فَأَمَّا نِسْبَتُهُ اِلَى اللَّهِ؛ فَمِنْ جِهَةِ أَنَّهُ الْوُجُودُ الْحَقُّ، وَالْفَاعِلُ الْحَقِيقِيُّ•
As for its attribution to God: that is from the respect that He is the real Being and the true Agent.
وَأَمَّا نِسْبَتُهُ اِلَى الْمَخْلُوقِ؛ فَمِنْ جِهَةِ أَنَّهُ مَصْدَرُ الْفِعْلِ فِي الْحِسِّ•
As for its attribution to the created being: that is from the respect that it is the source of the act in sense-perception.
وَأَمَّا نِسْبَتُهُ اِلَى اللَّهِ بِالْمَخْلُوقِ؛ فَمِنْ جِهَةِ أَنَّهُ آلَةُ الْفِعْلِ، كَآلَةِالنَّجَّارِ وَالْحَدَّادِ•
As for its attribution to God through the created being: that is from the respect that it is the instrument of the act, like the tool of the carpenter and the smith.
وَالْفَاعِلُ هُوَ الصَّانِعُ لَا الْاَلَةُ•
And the agent is the craftsman, not the tool.
وَأَمَّا نِسْبَتُهُ اِلَى الْمَخْلُوقِ بِاللَّهِ؛ فَمِنْ جِهَةِ أَنَّ الْمَخْلُوقَ مَظْهَرٌ، وَتَعَيُّنٌ لِلْحَقِّ•
As for its attribution to the created being through God: that is from the respect that the created being is a locus of manifestation and a determination of the Real.
وَالْحَقُّ غَيْبٌ، وَالْمَخْلُوقُ شَهَادَةٌ•
The Real is the Unseen, and the created being is the Witnessed.
وَفِعْلُ الْمَخْلُوقِ- فِي الْحَقِيقَةِ- سَوَاءٌ كَانَ حَيَوَاناً أَوْ اِنْسَاناً أَوْ مَلَكاً أَوْ غَيْرَ ذَلِكَ، هُوَ فِعْلُ اللَّهِ- تَعَالَى- وَفِعْلُ الْمَخْلُوقِ مِنْ حَيْثِيَّةٍ وَاحِدَةٍ، وَلَا حُلُولَ وَلَا اتِّحَادَ•
The act of the created being, in reality, whether it is an animal, a human, an angel or something else, is the act of God, exalted is He, and the act of the created being from one and the same respect; and there is no indwelling and no union.
اِذْ اسْمُ الْمَخْلُوقِ اِنْسَاناً أَوْ غَيْرَهُ؛ شَامِلٌ لِظَاهِرِهِ وَبَاطِنِهِ•
For the name “created being”, whether a human or another, covers both its outward and its inward.
وَبَاطِنُهُ بِاعْتِبَارٍ هُوَ الْوُجُـودُ الْحَقُّ، وَظَاهِرُهُ بِاعْتِبَارِهِ هُوَ الصُّورَةُ الْمَحْسُوسَةُ، الَّتِي هِيَ أَحْكَامُ الِاسْتِعْدَادَاتِ الثَّابِتَةِ وَأَحْوَالُهَا،
Its inward, in one respect, is the real Being; and its outward, in its own respect, is the sensible form, which is the rulings of the fixed preparednesses and their states.
وَهِيَ مَعَانٍ ظَهَرَتْ فِي صُورَةٍ مَحْسُوسَةٍ، كَمَا تَتَصَوَّرُ الْمَعَانِي يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ، وَفِي الْبَرْزَخِ، صُوَراً مَحْسُوسَةً تَكَلَّمُ وَتُوزَنُ، كَمَا وَرَدَ فِي الْأَخْبَـارِ الصَّحِيحَةِ•
These are meanings that have become manifest in a sensible form, just as meanings take form, on the Day of Resurrection and in the isthmus, as sensible forms that speak and are weighed, as has come in the sound reports.
فَمَنْ كَانَ شُهُودُهُ مَقْصُوراً عَلَى الْحِسِّ؛ قَالَ الْفِعْلُ لِلْعَبْدِ، وَلَابُدَّ يَعْنِي الصُّورَةَ الظَّاهِرَةَ الْمَحْدُودَةَ الْمُقَدَّرَةَ،
So he whose beholding is confined to sense-perception says, “The act belongs to the servant”, and inevitably so; he means the outward form, delimited and measured.
وَمَنْ كَانَ شُهُودُهُ مَقْصُوراً، عَلَى أَنَّ الْكَمَالَ وَالْقُدْرَةَ عَلَى الْفِعْلِ؛ لَايَكُونُ اِلاَّ لِلَّهِ- تَعَالَى-، قَالَ الْفِعْلُ لِلَّهِ- تَعَالَى- وَلَا بُدَّ يَعْنِي الْأَمْرَ الْغَيْبِيَّ، وَلَا مَدْخَلَ لِلصُّورَةِ الْمُشَكَّلَةِ الْمَحْسُوسَةِ اِلاَّ مِنْ جِهَةِ الْكَسْبِ•
And he whose beholding is confined to [the view] that perfection and the power to act belong only to God, exalted is He, says, “The act belongs to God, exalted is He”, and inevitably so; he means the unseen reality, and the shaped, sensible form has no part in it except by way of acquisition.
وَكِلَا الطَّائِفَتَيْنِ يَرَى أَنَّ الْحَقَّ- تَعَالَى- مُبَايِنٌ لِلْعَبْدِ وَمُنْفَصِلٌ عَنْهُ، فَيَلْزَمُهُ، وَلَا بُدَّ أَنَّ الْحَقَّ فِي جِهَةٍ مِنْ جِهَاتِ الْعَبْدِ لَا مَحِيصَ لَهُ عَنْ ذَلِكَ•
Both parties hold that the Real, exalted is He, is distinct from the servant and separate from him; so it follows for him, inevitably, that the Real is in one of the servant's directions, and there is no escape for him from that.
وَمَنْ كَانَ كَامِلاً عَارِفاً بِالْحَقَائِقِ ذَا عَيْنَيْنِ؛ قَالَ الْفِعْلُ لِلْحَقِّ- تَعَالَى- مِـنْ حَيْثُ هُوَ فِعْلُ الْعَبْدِ، وَفِعْلُ الْعَبْدِ مِنْ حَيْثُ هُوَ فِعْلُ الرَّبَّ،
And he who is perfect, a knower of the realities, possessed of two eyes, says: the act belongs to the Real, exalted is He, insofar as it is the act of the servant, and it is the act of the servant insofar as it is the act of the Lord;
اِذْ لَيْسَ فِي نَفْسِ الْأَمْرِ؛ اِلاَّ الْوُجُودُ الْحَقُّ الظَّاهِرُ بِاَحْكَامِ الْأَعْيَانِ الثَّابِتَةِ الَّتِي هِيَ نِسَبُ الْوُجُودِ وَاعْتِبَارَاتُهُتَسَتَّرَ بِهَا، وَتَسَمَّى بِاسْمِ الْعَبْدِ وَالْمَخْلُوقِ، وَوُصِفَ بِأَوْصَافِهِ فِي هَذِهِ الْمَرْتَبَةِ، وَهَـذَا الظُّهُورِ•
since in the actual state of affairs there is nothing but the real Being, manifest through the rulings of the fixed entities, which are the relations of Being and its aspects; it veiled itself with them, took the name of the servant and the created being, and was described by its attributes in this rank and in this manifestation.
وَمِـنْ عَجِيبٍ أَنَّ الظُّهُورَ تَسَتُّرٌ•
And it is among the wondrous things that manifestation is veiling,
وَالتَّسَتُّرُ ظُهُورٌ•
and veiling is manifestation.
وَفِي هَذَا الْمَجْلَي عَمِيَتِ الْعُقُولُ، فَتَبَايَنَتْ مَدَارِكُهَا وَأَخْطَأَتْ فِي كُلِّ مَا تَقُولُ، مِنْ قَدَرِيٍّ وَجَبْرِيٍّ وَكَسْبِيٍّ وَجُزْءٍ اخْتِيَارِيٍّ فَلَا طَائِلَ تَحْتَهَا عِنْدَ السَّـيْرِ وَالتَّحْقِيقِ وَدَفْعِ التَّشْغِيبِ
In this locus of disclosure intellects have gone blind: their perceptions have diverged, and they have erred in all they say, whether Qadarite, Jabrite, acquisitionist or “partial choice”; and there is nothing of worth beneath these on wayfaring, verification and the dispelling of contentious confusion.
وَالتَّفْرِيقِ،
…and separation.
وَقَدْ قَالَ اِمَامُنَا وَأُسْتَاذُنَا أَبُو حَامِدٍ الْغَزَالِيُّ، اِنَّ مَسْأَلَةَ نِسْبَةِ الْفِعْلِ الصَّادِرِ فِي الْعَبْدِ اِلَى اللَّهِ- تَعَالَى- أَوْ اِلَى الْعَبْدِ؟ لَايَرْفَعُ أَشْكَالَهَا شَرْعٌ• يَعْنِي الْأَدِلَّةَ الشَّرْعِيَّةَ، وَلَا عَقْلٌ وَلَا كَشْفٌ،
Our imam and master Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī said that the question whether the act that issues in the servant is to be attributed to God (exalted is He) or to the servant is one whose difficulty is not removed by revealed law (meaning the proofs of the Law), nor by reason, nor by unveiling.
وَنَحْنُ- وَالْمِنَّةُ لِلَّهِ- رُفِعَ عَنَّا اِشْكَالُهَا بِالْكَشْفِ، مَعَ أَنَّنَا نَعْلَمُ يَقِيناً أَنَّ كَشْفَ الشَّيْخِ أَتَمُّ وَأَعْلَى بِمَا لَا نِسْبَةَ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَهُ•
As for us (the grace is God's), its difficulty has been removed from us by unveiling, although we know with certainty that the Shaykh's unveiling is more complete and higher than ours, to a degree that admits no comparison between us and him.
وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَطْمَحِ نَظَرِ الشَّيْخِ•
God knows best what the Shaykh's view was aiming at.
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