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 82 · “Whoever does not thank people”
See the print: Damascus 1966, p. 157, Damascus 1966, p. 158, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 160, Cairo, vol. 1, PDF p. 161 (archive.org)
وَرَدَ فِي الْخَبَرِ: «مَنْ لَمْ يَشْكُرِ النَّاسَ لَمْ يَشْكُرِ اللَّهَ».
It has come in the report: «Whoever does not thank people has not thanked God.»
رَوَاهُ الْاِمَامُ أَحْمَدُ وَالتِّرْمِذِيُّ.
It was transmitted by Imam Aḥmad and al-Tirmidhī.
يُرِيدُ- عَلَيْهِ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ- أَنَّ الَّذِي لَا يَشْكُرُ النَّاسَ حَيْثُ رَآهُمْ، غَيْراً وَسِوًى، وَاعْتَقَدَ وَهْماً وَتَخَيُّلاً، أَنَّ الْحَقَّ- تَعَالَى- مُبَايِنٌ لَهُمْ وَمُنْفَصِلٌ عَنْهُمْ، وَأَنَّهُ فِي السَّمَاءِ، أَوْفَوْقَ الْعَرْشِ فَقَطْ، لَمْ يَشْكُرِ اللَّهَ، حَيْثُ أَنَّهُ مَاعَرَفَهُ.
He means (upon him be blessing and peace) this. Whoever does not thank people, because he saw them as other and as something besides, and believed by illusion and imagining that the Real (exalted is He) is distinct from them and separate from them, and that He is in the heaven, or above the Throne only, has not thanked God, since he has not known Him.
وَكَيْفَ يَشْكُرُهُ مَنْ لَمْ يَعْرِفْهُ؟!
And how can one thank Him who has not known Him?!
لِأَنَّهُ- تَعَالَى- مَا عَرَفَهُ مَنْ عَرَفَهُ؛ اِلَاّ فِي مَرَاتِبِ التَّقْيِيدِ وَالظُّهُورِ وَالتَّعَيُّنِ، وَالنَّاسُ وَجَمِيعُ الْمَخْلُوقَاتِ وَالْأَسْبَابُ وَالْوَسَائِطُ؛ مَظَاهِرُهُ وَتَعَيُّنَاتُهُ وَنِسَبُهُ وَاعْتِبَارَاتُهُ، فَاِنَّهَا آثَارُ أَسْمَائِهِ وَصِفَاتِهِ، بَلْ هِيَ عَيْنُ أَسْمَائِهِ.
For no one who has known Him (exalted is He) has known Him except in the levels of delimitation, manifestation and determination. People and all creatures, secondary causes and intermediaries are His loci of manifestation, His determinations, His relations and His aspects. For they are the traces of His names and attributes; rather, they are the very identity of His names.
اِذْ لَيْسَتِ الصُّوَرُ الْمَحْسُوسَةُ الْمَشْهُودَةُ كَائِنَةً مَا كَانَتْ، رُوحَانِيَّةً أَوْ مِثَالِيَّةً أَوْ جِسْمَانِيَّةً؛ اِلَّا أَسْمَاءَ الْحَقِّ- تَعَالَى-، وَهِيَ مَعَانٍ اجْتَمَعَتْ، فَحَصَلَتْ مِنْهَا هَيْئَةٌ اجْتِمَاعِيَّةٌ، فَكَانَتْ صُورَةً مَحْسُوسَةً، كَمَاتَقُولُ: اجْتَمَعَتِ الْبُرُودَةُ وَالْيُبُوسَةُ؛ فَكَانَتْ صُورَةَ التُّرَابِ.
For the sensible, beheld forms, whatever they may be, spiritual, imaginal or bodily, are nothing but names of the Real (exalted is He). They are meanings that have come together, so that from them a combined configuration arose, and it became a sensible form. It is as you say: cold and dryness came together, and they became the form of earth.
وَاجْتَمَعَتِ الْبُرُودَةُ وَالرُّطُوبَةُ؛ فَكَانَتْ صُورَةَ الْمَاءِ، مَثَلاً.
And cold and moisture came together, and they became the form of water, for example.
وَالْعَالَمُ كُلُّهُ هَٰكَذَا، النَّاسُ وَغَيْرُهُمْ، وَمُتَعَلَّقُ الْخِطَابِ وَالْحُدُوثِ وَالْأَمْرِ بِالْكَوْنِ؛ هُوَ هَٰذِهِ الْمَعَانِي، لِتَصِيرَ هَيْئَةً اجْتِمَاعِيَّةً، فَتَصِيرَصُورَةً مَحْسُوسَةً.
The whole world is like this, people and others. What the address, origination and the command to come into being are directed at is these meanings, so that they become a combined configuration and then become a sensible form.
فَمَنْ عَرَفَ اللَّهَ وَالنَّاسَ هَٰذِهِ الْمَعْرِفَةَ؛ كَانَ شُكْرُهُ لِلنَّاسِ شُكْراً لِلَّهِ، اِذْ لَا اثْنَيْنِيَّةَ فِي الْوُجُودِ.
So whoever has known God and people with this knowledge, his thanking of people is a thanking of God, since there is no twoness in existence.
وَمِنْ هُنَاكَ؛ كَانَ الْفِعْلُ الصَّادِرُ مِنَ النَّاسِ وَجَمِيعِ الْمَخْلُوقَاتِ؛ بَدَاهَةً وَضَرُورَةً.
From there, the act that issues from people and all creatures is so by self-evidence and necessity.
وَهُوَ فِعْلُ اللَّهِ- تَعَالَى- شَرْعاً وَعَقْلاً، فَأَيْنَ اللَّهُ وَاَيْنَ النَّاسُ لِمَنْ يَعْقِلُ؟
And it is the act of God (exalted is He) by the Law and by reason. So where is God and where are people, for one who understands?
أَفْدِي مَنْ يَعْقِلُ عَنِّي بِنَفْسِي، وَأَجْعَلُهُ فَوْقَ رَأْسِي.
I would ransom with my own self whoever understands me, and I place him above my head.
قَالَ اِمَامُ الْعَارِفِينَ، مُحْيِي الدِّينِ، عِنْدَمَا تَكَلَّمَ عَلَى نِسْبَةِ الْفِعْلِ اِلَى اللَّهِ وَاِلَى الْمَخْلُوقَاتِ: مِنَ الْأَسْبَابِ وَالْوَسَائِطِ؟!
The imam of the knowers, Muḥyī al-Dīn, said, when he spoke about ascribing the act to God and to creatures, that is, to secondary causes and intermediaries:
فَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ قَالَ: عِنْدَهَا وَلَا بُدَّ،
"Among people there is one who said: at them (the causes), and necessarily so;
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ قَالَ: بِهَا وَلَا بُدَّ،
and among people there is one who said: by them, and necessarily so;
وَنَحْنُ وَأَمْثَالُنَا (يَعْنِي مِنَ الْمُحَقِّقِينَ، الَّذِينَ هُمْ أَعْلَا رُتْبَةً فِي الْمَعْرِفَةِ مِنَ الْعَارِفِينَ) نَقُولُ: عِنْدَهَا وَبِهَا.
and we and those like us (he means among the verifiers, who are higher in rank in knowledge than the knowers) say: at them and by them."
وَإِيضَاحُهُ: أَنَّ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ لَهُ وَجْهَانِ: وَجْهٌ اِلَى الْحَقِّ، وَهُوَ حَقٌّ مِنْ هَٰذَا الْوَجْهِ، وَهُوَ وَجْهُ الرَّبِّ الَّذِي لَايَفْنَى، وَهُوَ الْمُرَادُ بِقَوْلِهِ:
Its explanation is that everything has two faces. One is a face towards the Real, and from this face it is real; this is the face of the Lord which does not pass away, and it is what is meant by His words:
.كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ وَيَبْقَىٰ وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ.
“Everyone upon it is perishing, and there remains the face of your Lord” (Q 55:26–27).
وَوَجْهٌ اِلَى سَبَبِهِ الَّذِي ظَهَرَ عَنْهُ، وَهُوَ الْفَانِي الْعَدَمُ الْبَاطِلُ.
And a face towards its cause, from which it appeared: that is the perishing, the nonexistent, the void.
وَقَدْ نَفَى الْحَقُّ ـ تَعَالَى ـ التَّأْثِيرَ عَنْهُ فِي هَذَا الْوَجْهِ، بِقَوْلِهِ:. إِنَّمَا قَوْلُنَا لِشَيْءٍ إِذَا أَرَدْنَاهُ أَنْ نَقُولَ لَهُ: كُنْ فَيَكُونُ.
And the Real, exalted is He, has denied it any effective influence in respect of this face, by His saying: “Our only word to a thing, when We will it, is that We say to it: Be! and it is” (Q 16:40).
فَاِذَا رَأَيْتَ الْعَارِفَ يَشْكُرُ مَخْلُوقاً وَيُثْنِي عَلَيْهِ وَيُعَظِّمُهُ وَيَلْحَظُهُ؛ فَمِنْ هَذِهِ الْحَيْثِيَّةِ.
So when you see the knower thanking a creature, praising it, revering it and regarding it attentively, it is from this standpoint.
فَلَا تَظُنَّ أَنَّهُ يَرَى النَّاسَ وَسَائِرَ الْمَخْلُوقَاتِ كَمَا تَرَاهُمْ أَنْتَ.
Do not think, then, that he sees people and the rest of creatures as you see them,
وَأَنَّ بَيْنَهُمْ وَبَيْنَ الْحَقِّ ـ تَعَالَى ـ بَوْناً.
or that between them and the Real, exalted is He, there is a distance.
مَعَاذَ اللَّهِ.
God forbid!
وَمِنْ هُنَا صَحَّ مَا أَخْبَرَ بِهِ تَعَالَى فِي قَوْلِهِ:. فَأَيْنَمَا تُوَلُّوا فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ اللَّهِ. وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَمَا كُنْتُمْ.. وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ..
And from here the truth of what He, exalted is He, has told us holds, in His saying: “Wherever you turn, there is the face of God” (Q 2:115); “and He is with you wherever you are” (Q 57:4); “and We are nearer to him than the jugular vein” (Q 50:16).
فَاعْرِفِ الْحَقَّ وَاحْذَرِ الْغَلَطَ وَالسَّلَامُ.
So know the truth, and beware of error. And peace.
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