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 60 · “God is greater”
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 121, Damascus 1966, p. 122, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 126, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 127, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 128 (archive.org)
قَالَ تَعَالَى: «وَكَبِّرْهُ تَكْبِيراً⁽¹⁾»
God Most High says: "And magnify Him with a magnifying" (Q 17:111).
أَيْ تَكْبِيراً بَالِغاً فِي الْفَخَامَةِ وَالضَّخَامَةِ غَايَةَ مَا يُتَصَوَّرُ•
That is, a magnifying that reaches, in grandeur and immensity, the utmost that can be conceived.
وَاِنَّمَا أُمِرَ الْمُصَلِّي بِقَوْلِ: «اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ»، عِنْدَ دُخُولِهِ فِي الصَّلَاةِ، وَعِنْدَ انْتِقَالَاتِهِ فِي الرُّكُوعِ وَالسُّجُودِ وَالرَّفْعِ مِنْهُ، اِلَى تَمَامِ الصَّلَاةِ؛ لِكَوْنِهِ أُمِرَ بِأَنْ يَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ، كَأَنَّهُ يَرَاهُ•
The one who prays has been commanded to say "God is greater" on entering the prayer, and at his transitions in bowing and prostration and in rising from it, until the prayer is complete, only because he was commanded to worship God as though he sees Him,
وَأَنْ يَعْتَقِدَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ- تَعَالَى- فِي قِبْلَتِهِ•
and to believe that God – Most High – is in his qibla,
وَأَنَّهُ مُطَّلِعٌ عَلَيْهِ يَرَاهُ، وَأَنَّهُ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ الْقِبْلَةِ، وَأَنَّهُ يُنَاجِيهِ•••• وَأَمْثَالَ هَذَا، مِمَّا وَرَدَ فِي الْأَخْبَارِ الصَّحِيحَةِ،
and that He looks down upon him and sees him, and that He is between him and the qibla, and that He converses intimately with him .... and the like of this, among what has come in the sound reports;
وَكُلُّ هَذَا يَسْتَلْزِمُ التَّخَيُّلَ وَالتَّصْوِيرَ لَا مَحَالَةَ،
and all of this necessarily entails imagining and picturing.
وَكُلُّ مُصَلٍّ، بَلْ مَخْلُوقٍ؛ يَتَصَوَّرُ مَعْبُودَهُ وَيَتَخَيَّلُهُ، بِمَعْنَى أَنَّهُ يَعْتَقِدُ فِي مَعْبُودِهِ، أَنَّهُ كَذَا وَلَيْسَ كَذَا•
Every one who prays, indeed every creature, conceives of the one he worships and imagines Him, in the sense that he believes about the one he worships that He is such-and-such and is not such-and-such.
وَهَذَا هُوَ التَّصَوُّرُ وَالتَّخَيُّلُ،
And this is what conceiving and imagining are.
فَلَمَّا كَانَ الْأَمْرُ هَكَذَا، وَعَلَى مَا ذَكَرْنَا؛ أُمِرَ الْمُصَلِّي وَغَيْرُ الْمُصَلِّي أَنْ يَقُولَ: اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ، بِصِيغَةِ الْمُفَاضَلَةِ،
So since the matter is thus, and as we have stated, the one who prays and the one who does not pray were commanded to say "God is greater", in the comparative form,
أَيْ مُسَمَّى اللَّهِ فِي مَرْتَبَهِ اِطْلَاقِهِ أَكْبَرُ وَأَعْظَمُ مِنْ أَنْ يُتَخَيَّلَ أَوْ يُتَصَوَّرَ أَوْ تَحُومَ حَوْلَ حِمَاهُ شَائِبَةُ تَقْيِيدٍ بِجِهَةٍ أَوْ صِفَةٍ، أَوْ يَحْصُرَهُ نَعْتٌ أَوِ اعْتِقَادٌ•
that is: the One named by "God", at the level of His absoluteness, is greater and mightier than to be imagined or conceived, or than that any tinge of delimitation by a direction or an attribute should hover around His precinct, or that a description or a belief should confine Him.
فَإِنَّهُ «لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ⁽²⁾»
For "there is nothing like His likeness" (Q 42:11).
وَكَمَا نَفَتْ هَذِهِ الْآيَةُ الْكَرِيمَةُ الْمِثْلِيَّةَ؛ نَفَتِ الضِّدِّيَّةَ،
And just as this noble verse denies likeness, it denies contrariety:
فَلَا مِثْلَ لَهُ- تَعَالَى- فَيُدَانِيَهُ، وَلَا ضُدَّ لَهُ فَيُنَاوِيَهُ،
He – Most High – has no like that could come near Him, and no contrary that could oppose Him;
بَلْ هُوَ الْمُطْلَقُ حَتَّى عَنِ الْاِطْلَاقِ، لِأَنَّ الْاِطْلَاقَ تَقَيُّدٌ لَهُ بِالْاِطْلَاقِ،
rather He is the Absolute, even beyond absoluteness, because absoluteness is a delimitation of Him by absoluteness;
وَاِنَّمَا ضَرُورَةُ التَّعْبِيرِ أَحْوَجَتْ اِلَى ذِكْرِ الْأِطْلَاقِ، وَنَحْوِهِ مِنَ الْأَلْفَاظِ الضَّرُورِيَّةِ.
It is only the necessity of expression that has compelled the mention of "absoluteness" and of similar words that cannot be avoided.
فَالْمُفَاضَلَةُ اِذاً عَلَى بَابِهَا، بِمَعْنَى أَنَّهُ– تَعَالَى– فِي مَرْتَبَةِ اِطْلَاقِهِ، أَكْبَرُ مِنْهُ وَأَعْظَمُ فِي مَرْتَبَةِ تَقَيُّدِهِ،
The comparison, then, is meant in its proper sense: He – Most High – at the level of His absoluteness is greater, and mightier, than Himself at the level of His delimitation;
وَهُوَ هُوَ فِي الْمَرْتَبَتَيْنِ لَا غَيْرُ، مِنْ غَيْرِ تَغَيُّرٍ يَلْحَقُهُ، وَلَا تَحْوِيلٍ.
and He is He in both levels, and nothing else, without any change overtaking Him, or any transformation.
فَهُوَ الْمُطْلَقُ فِي آنِ تَقَيُّدِهِ، الْمُقَيَّدُ فِي آنِ اِطْلَاقِهِ،
So He is the Absolute in the very instant of His delimitation, the Delimited in the very instant of His absoluteness,
كَمَا أَنَّهُ الْأَوَّلُ فِي عَيْنِ آخِرِيَّتِهِ، الْآخِرُ فِي عَيْنِ أَوَّلِيَّتِهِ، الْبَاطِنُ فِي عَيْنِ ظَاهِرِيَّتِّهِ، الظَّاهِرُ فِي عَيْنِ بَاطِنِيَّتِهِ...
just as He is the First in the very identity of His lastness, the Last in the very identity of His firstness, the Inward in the very identity of His outwardness, the Outward in the very identity of His inwardness ...
وَلَمَّا كَانَ الْحَقُّ– تَعَالَى– فَاعِلاً لِأَفْعَالِنَا فِي مَرْتَبَةِ التَّقْيِيدِ؛ جَاءَتْ صِفَةُ الْمُفَاضَلَةِ فِي الْكُتُبِ الْمُنَزَّلَةِ، وَفِي السُّنَّةِ الْمُفَضَّلَةِ، كَقَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى:
And since the Real – Most High – is the doer of our acts at the level of delimitation, the comparative qualification came in the revealed Books and in the excellent Sunna, as in His saying, Most High:
«أَحْسَنُ الْخَالِقِينَ⁽¹⁾، خَيْرُ الرَّازِقِينَ⁽²⁾، نِعْمَ الْقَادِرُونَ⁽³⁾»
"The best of creators" (Q 23:14), "the best of providers" (Q 62:11), "how excellent are We as determiners" (Q 77:23)
وَنَحْوُ هَذَا، وَفِي السُّنَّةِ: «اللَّهُ اَفْرَحُ بِتَوْبَةِ عَبْدِهِ» الْحَدِيثَ بِطُولِهِ.
and the like of this; and in the Sunna: "God is more joyful at the repentance of His servant", the ḥadīth in full.
وَنَحْوُهُ كَثِيرٌ.
And there is much of this kind.
فَكُلُّ هَذَا بِاعْتِبَارِ مَرْتَبَةِ الْاِطْلَاقِ وَالتَّقْيِيدِ، فَهُوَ مُفَضَّلٌ عَلَى نَفْسِهِ بِاعْتِبَارَيْنِ، كَمَسْأَلَةِ الْكُحْلِ عِنْدَ النُّحَاةِ.
All of this is with respect to the level of absoluteness and of delimitation: He is ranked above Himself in two respects, as in the kohl question among the grammarians.
وَاِنَّمَا أَمَرَ الشَّارِعُ– صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ– بِحَضْرَةِ الْاِحْسَانِ، لِلتَّعْلِيمِ وَالتَّأْنِيسِ.
The Lawgiver, God bless him and grant him peace, commanded the presence of excellence (iḥsān) only for the sake of teaching and of putting at ease.
فَاِذَا دَخَلَهَا الْعَبْدُ، وَأَرَادَ اللَّهُ رَحْمَتَهُ رَحْمَةً كَامِلَةً؛ رَفَعَهُ مِنْهَا اِلَى رُؤْيَتِهِ– تَعَالَى– فِي كُلِّ جِهَةٍ، حَيْثُ لَا جِهَةَ، بَلْ يَرَى حَقِيقَتَهُ هُوَ لَا جِهَةَ لَهَا،
Then, when the servant enters it, and God wills to have mercy on him with a complete mercy, He raises him from it to seeing Him, exalted is He, in every direction, where there is no direction; rather, he sees His reality itself, which has no direction,
فَيَرَى الْحَقَّ فِي الْخَلْقِ، وَالْخَلْقَ فِي الْحَقِّ، مِنْ غَيْرِ حُلُولٍ وَلَااتِّحَادٍ وَلَا زَنْدَقَةٍ فِي هَذَا وَلَا اِلْحَادٍ،
so he sees the Real in creation and creation in the Real, without indwelling or union, and there is no heresy in this, nor deviation;
وَاِنَّمَا هُوَ تَوْحِيدٌ مَحْضٌ، وَرَفْضٌ لِلشِّرْكِ وَدَحْضٌ،
it is nothing but pure affirmation of God's oneness (tawḥīd), and a rejection and refutation of associating partners with Him (shirk);
وَمَنْ ذَاقَ عَرَفْ، وَمَنْ جَهِلَ لَجَّ وَمَا أَنْصَفَ، وَلَوْ سَلَّمَ كَانَ لَهُ أَسْلَمَ.
whoever has tasted knows, and whoever is ignorant persists stubbornly and is not fair; had he accepted it, that would have been safer for him.
لَايَعْرِفُ الشَّوْقَ اِلَاّ مَنْ يُكَابِدُهُ وَلَا الصَّبَابَةَ اِلَاّ مَنْ يُعَانِيهَا
None knows longing but the one who suffers it, nor ardent love but the one who endures it.
اللَّهُمَّ زِدْنِي عِلْماً بِكَ، فَأَنْتَ خَيْرُ مَسْئُولٍ، وَأَكْرَمُ مَأْمُولٍ.
O God, increase me in knowledge of You, for You are the best of those who are asked and the most generous of those in whom hope is placed.
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