The Presentation of the People of Kalam of Reason in Their Beliefs in the Chapter of Names and Attributes

The questioner : Yes, O Salim. There is no speech; you claim to hold beliefs, yet you do not hold them.

The Shaykh : Salim, Salim. They said: Why do I say that the people of the Sunnah took the errors of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, and everything related to the matter of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, from the revelation? You took from your own opinions.

The questioner : Do you prefer your minds over what came from Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He? If they prefer their minds over the revelation? This is well known. And if they lie to themselves, that is better for them.

The Shaykh : Correct. In any case, O brother Salim, they hold that the primary source for the names and attributes of Allah is the mind. Therefore, their rule is that whatever comes in the Book and the Sunnah regarding the names and attributes of Allah that agrees with the mind, they accept. And whatever comes in contradiction to the mind, meaning the mind contradicts it, they reject. And whatever the mind does not necessitate affirming or denying, some of them suspend judgment, and some of them deny it, saying: It must be that the mind indicates its affirmation. This is the rule among all the people of ta'til (denial of the divine attributes) from the people of kalam.

The questioner : I gave an example, O Shaykh. Here. He says: If by the mind, a person wipes over the socks, he does not wipe over the relationship. Yes. But this is legislated in the Shari'ah. And this is wrong. If by the mind it contradicts the commands, the minds of people contradict the heavenly commands. But if the mind contradicts the heavenly commands, it is not a mind.

The Shaykh : There is no doubt. For this reason, the Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) has a book titled "The Agreement of Correct Transmission with Explicit Reason." So, explicit reason, free from doubts and desires, cannot bring forth what contradicts the Shari'ah.