And by this, the misguidance of those who stripped the names of Allah the Exalted of their meanings is known, namely the people of ta'til (denial of the divine attributes), who said: "Allah the Exalted is All-Hearing without hearing, All-Seeing without sight,
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : He said: "And by this, the misguidance of those who stripped the names of Allah the Exalted of their meanings is known, namely the people of ta'til (denial of the divine attributes), who said: 'Allah the Exalted is All-Hearing without hearing, All-Seeing without sight, Almighty without might, and so on.' They justified this by claiming that affirming the attributes necessitates the multiplicity of the eternal. This justification is defective, indeed dead, because the evidence of revelation and reason proves its invalidity." They said that if you affirm for Allah eternal names and say that the names are upon the attributes, this necessitates the multiplicity of the eternal. The eternal, in their view and in the view of the people of kalam (theology), is the most specific attribute of the deity, meaning the most specific attribute of the deity is the attribute by which no other is described. This is undoubtedly an error. The eternal is not the most specific attribute of Allah, because others besides Allah are described by it, as Allah Mighty and Majestic said: [Ya-Sin 36:39] The most specific attribute of Allah is that by which no other is named, such as Lord of the worlds, Creator of all things, and the like.
Does our saying that the names include the attributes necessitate the multiplicity of the eternal? Never. Because the attribute is a description, or because the attribute is a meaning in the described, not other than it, so it cannot be said that this necessitates the multiplicity of the eternal. If we said that the multiplicity of the eternal is necessitated and the attributes are many, how many deities would there be? Many: the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing, the All-Seeing, the All-Powerful, the Living. If we said that the eternal attributes are independent entities, the multiplicity of the eternal would be necessitated. They said, "If you declare the Christians disbelievers for the Trinity, these are even more deserving of that." It is said to them: You do not know the Arabic language. In Arabic and all languages, when a name is derived, it indicates the thing from which it is derived, and there is no problem with this. Nor does the multiplicity of attributes necessitate the multiplicity of the eternal.
We say to them: You are now, each one of you, All-Hearing, All-Seeing, All-Powerful, and All-Knowing. How many are you? One. You are four by your rule, but the reality is that you are one. For this reason, the Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "If a person supplicates to an attribute, he is a disbeliever by consensus." And he spoke the truth (may Allah have mercy on him). This means if I said, "O Power of Allah, provide for me," you have now made the Power a deity to be supplicated to. This is outside the scope of the discussion, but it is important.
If someone asks: Is not the supplication "O Allah, by Your mercy I seek aid" a transmitted supplication, where seeking aid is attributed to mercy, which is an attribute? It is said that this is from the category of tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means), meaning I ask You to aid me because You are Merciful. This is the meaning of which there is no doubt. Now, let us return to the book.
until it returns [appearing] like the old date stalk.
حتى عاد كالعرجون القديمDoes our saying that the names include the attributes necessitate the multiplicity of the eternal? Never. Because the attribute is a description, or because the attribute is a meaning in the described, not other than it, so it cannot be said that this necessitates the multiplicity of the eternal. If we said that the multiplicity of the eternal is necessitated and the attributes are many, how many deities would there be? Many: the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing, the All-Seeing, the All-Powerful, the Living. If we said that the eternal attributes are independent entities, the multiplicity of the eternal would be necessitated. They said, "If you declare the Christians disbelievers for the Trinity, these are even more deserving of that." It is said to them: You do not know the Arabic language. In Arabic and all languages, when a name is derived, it indicates the thing from which it is derived, and there is no problem with this. Nor does the multiplicity of attributes necessitate the multiplicity of the eternal.
We say to them: You are now, each one of you, All-Hearing, All-Seeing, All-Powerful, and All-Knowing. How many are you? One. You are four by your rule, but the reality is that you are one. For this reason, the Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "If a person supplicates to an attribute, he is a disbeliever by consensus." And he spoke the truth (may Allah have mercy on him). This means if I said, "O Power of Allah, provide for me," you have now made the Power a deity to be supplicated to. This is outside the scope of the discussion, but it is important.
If someone asks: Is not the supplication "O Allah, by Your mercy I seek aid" a transmitted supplication, where seeking aid is attributed to mercy, which is an attribute? It is said that this is from the category of tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means), meaning I ask You to aid me because You are Merciful. This is the meaning of which there is no doubt. Now, let us return to the book.