The Meaning of the Third Principle According to the Mu'tazilah: The Intermediate State Between the Two States and the Obligation of Doing What Is Best
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The Shaykh : And what did we say about the third one?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : The intermediate state between two states. I think some of them replace it with the obligation of doing what is best, or the obligation of doing good upon Allah. That is, they say that the state of being between the two states comes before the state of being between two states. They say that the disobedient believer whose sin does not amount to disbelief: it is not permissible for us to say that he is a believer, nor is it permissible for us to say that he is a disbeliever. Rather, he is in a state between two states, like a man who traveled from Madinah to Makkah and is in the middle of the road. We do not say that he is from the people of Makkah, nor from the people of Madinah, but rather he is in what?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : A state between two states. This person, when he committed a major sin, exited from faith, but because he still had some faith, he did not reach disbelief, so he was in a state between two states. And they built upon this; they built upon this that intercession does not benefit him, because he is from those... of the warning, as will come, if Allah wills, the execution of the warning.
As for the issue of the best, the obligation of doing good and doing what is best upon Allah, this is also one of their principles. They say it is obligatory upon Allah to do what is best, and they said so because He is Wise, and the Wise One does not do anything but what is best, because deviating from what is best to something less than it contradicts
The student: wisdom.
The Shaykh : Wisdom. So it is obligatory upon Allah to do what is best, and it is obligatory upon Him to do good. It is obligatory upon Him to do good. But this statement, although its apparent meaning is truth, they do not intend truth. Because we say: what is the measure of what is best or good? If it is your minds, then your statement is invalid, because you do not know what is best from what is not. And if what is best is what the wisdom of Allah necessitates, then this is not for you to decide, and you are not the ones who obligated it upon Allah. Rather, Allah is the One who obligated it upon Himself. For Allah does not love the corrupters, and He loves the reformers and rewards them. For this reason, we say to them: a man has three sons. The first son died before reaching maturity, the second died after reaching maturity, and the third died after a long life. The death of the first, in relation to the other two sons, contains no good and no best, correct?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes, according to them, they say this poor son did not get any good or best. The most that can be said is that he was saved from sin. As for the second, who died after reaching maturity but did not remain but a year or two, he got some good. The third, who lived a long life in obedience to Allah, he got the best. So the meaning, according to your claim, is that Allah did not fulfill anything of what is obligatory upon Him according to you except in the case of which son? In the case of the third son only. And this is a deniable statement, because Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, does what He wills. And we know that He does not do a thing except for a wisdom, but the wisdom is not something we impose upon Allah. Rather, the knowledge of the wisdom is with Allah, Mighty and Majestic. And the rest of the speech on their five principles will come, if Allah wills. And this is the secret in al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, making the five principles the pillars of faith: five of the pillars of faith. Yes.
The questioner : ... How?
The Shaykh : The Khawarij in this issue and in their denial
The student: ...
The Shaykh : The intermediate state between two states. I think some of them replace it with the obligation of doing what is best, or the obligation of doing good upon Allah. That is, they say that the state of being between the two states comes before the state of being between two states. They say that the disobedient believer whose sin does not amount to disbelief: it is not permissible for us to say that he is a believer, nor is it permissible for us to say that he is a disbeliever. Rather, he is in a state between two states, like a man who traveled from Madinah to Makkah and is in the middle of the road. We do not say that he is from the people of Makkah, nor from the people of Madinah, but rather he is in what?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : A state between two states. This person, when he committed a major sin, exited from faith, but because he still had some faith, he did not reach disbelief, so he was in a state between two states. And they built upon this; they built upon this that intercession does not benefit him, because he is from those... of the warning, as will come, if Allah wills, the execution of the warning.
As for the issue of the best, the obligation of doing good and doing what is best upon Allah, this is also one of their principles. They say it is obligatory upon Allah to do what is best, and they said so because He is Wise, and the Wise One does not do anything but what is best, because deviating from what is best to something less than it contradicts
The student: wisdom.
The Shaykh : Wisdom. So it is obligatory upon Allah to do what is best, and it is obligatory upon Him to do good. It is obligatory upon Him to do good. But this statement, although its apparent meaning is truth, they do not intend truth. Because we say: what is the measure of what is best or good? If it is your minds, then your statement is invalid, because you do not know what is best from what is not. And if what is best is what the wisdom of Allah necessitates, then this is not for you to decide, and you are not the ones who obligated it upon Allah. Rather, Allah is the One who obligated it upon Himself. For Allah does not love the corrupters, and He loves the reformers and rewards them. For this reason, we say to them: a man has three sons. The first son died before reaching maturity, the second died after reaching maturity, and the third died after a long life. The death of the first, in relation to the other two sons, contains no good and no best, correct?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes, according to them, they say this poor son did not get any good or best. The most that can be said is that he was saved from sin. As for the second, who died after reaching maturity but did not remain but a year or two, he got some good. The third, who lived a long life in obedience to Allah, he got the best. So the meaning, according to your claim, is that Allah did not fulfill anything of what is obligatory upon Him according to you except in the case of which son? In the case of the third son only. And this is a deniable statement, because Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, does what He wills. And we know that He does not do a thing except for a wisdom, but the wisdom is not something we impose upon Allah. Rather, the knowledge of the wisdom is with Allah, Mighty and Majestic. And the rest of the speech on their five principles will come, if Allah wills. And this is the secret in al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, making the five principles the pillars of faith: five of the pillars of faith. Yes.
The questioner : ... How?
The Shaykh : The Khawarij in this issue and in their denial