The Meaning of the Poet's Statement: (The Refutation of the Mu'tazilah on the Principle that Allah Does What Is Best) And Because of It, They Ruled That the Most Merciful Has Legislated the Impossible Law, the Law of Falsehood
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The Shaykh : He said: "And because of it, they ruled that the Most Merciful has legislated the impossible law, the law of falsehood"
"And because of it, they make it obligatory to heed *** the best that exists in possibility"
Likewise, they also ruled that the Most Merciful has legislated the impossible law, which is that it is obligatory for Allah to do what is best or to do good. They said, if He contradicts this, He is unjust because He left what is obligatory upon Him. So they attributed to Allah a law, whereas the one who legislates a law is
The student: Allah
The Shaykh : the one who legislates it for the servants, not the servants for Allah. And we say: As for the obligation of doing what is best, we believe in it, but not because we made it obligatory; rather, we believe in it because it is the requirement of what? Wisdom. There is no doubt that if a person is faced with good and better, wisdom dictates following the better. If it is good and bad, wisdom dictates following the good. But we do not make it obligatory upon Allah. We say this was obligatory by the requirement of His wisdom. Based on this, the difference between our statement and the statement of the Mu'tazilah is that the Mu'tazilah consider the best and the good to be dependent on their minds. So if Allah's action is contrary to what they consider best, they say this is injustice. As for us, we say that the measure of goodness and being best is not our minds, but the wisdom of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), indeed the wisdom of Allah. For example, if people are struck by drought and barrenness—drought means the withholding of rain, and barrenness means the lack of vegetation and the death of livestock—if we look at the requirement of limited minds, we say this is not the best, but rather this is what? Corruption. But the wisdom of Allah refuses that this is the best because of the great benefits that result from it, which may appear to us now, or may not appear, or may appear after a time, or may not appear, and we are limited. This is the difference between our statement and the statement of the Mu'tazilah. He said
"And because of it, they make it obligatory to heed *** the best that exists in possibility"
"And because of it, they make it obligatory to heed *** the best that exists in possibility"
Likewise, they also ruled that the Most Merciful has legislated the impossible law, which is that it is obligatory for Allah to do what is best or to do good. They said, if He contradicts this, He is unjust because He left what is obligatory upon Him. So they attributed to Allah a law, whereas the one who legislates a law is
The student: Allah
The Shaykh : the one who legislates it for the servants, not the servants for Allah. And we say: As for the obligation of doing what is best, we believe in it, but not because we made it obligatory; rather, we believe in it because it is the requirement of what? Wisdom. There is no doubt that if a person is faced with good and better, wisdom dictates following the better. If it is good and bad, wisdom dictates following the good. But we do not make it obligatory upon Allah. We say this was obligatory by the requirement of His wisdom. Based on this, the difference between our statement and the statement of the Mu'tazilah is that the Mu'tazilah consider the best and the good to be dependent on their minds. So if Allah's action is contrary to what they consider best, they say this is injustice. As for us, we say that the measure of goodness and being best is not our minds, but the wisdom of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), indeed the wisdom of Allah. For example, if people are struck by drought and barrenness—drought means the withholding of rain, and barrenness means the lack of vegetation and the death of livestock—if we look at the requirement of limited minds, we say this is not the best, but rather this is what? Corruption. But the wisdom of Allah refuses that this is the best because of the great benefits that result from it, which may appear to us now, or may not appear, or may appear after a time, or may not appear, and we are limited. This is the difference between our statement and the statement of the Mu'tazilah. He said
"And because of it, they make it obligatory to heed *** the best that exists in possibility"