Explanation of the author's statement: "And He is not compared to His creation, Blessed and Exalted is He"
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The Shaykh :"And He is not compared to His creation, Blessed and Exalted is He" He is not compared. Analogy is divided into three categories: comprehensive analogy, analogical likeness, and a fortiori analogy. He, Blessed and Exalted is He, is not compared to His creation by analogical likeness or comprehensive analogy.
Comprehensive analogy: This is what we know as the general term that encompasses all its individuals, such that every individual falls under the designation and meaning of that term. For example, if we say "life," the life of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, is not compared to the life of creation, because the name "Living" encompasses all of them. For example, it is clear. Good.
Analogical likeness: This means making what is established for the Creator like what is established for the created. This is the meaning of analogical likeness, because analogical likeness involves attaching one thing to another in ruling due to their similarity.
A fortiori analogy: The scholars say that this is used regarding Allah, due to the saying of the Exalted:[An-Nahl 16:60] This means that for every attribute of perfection, Allah the Exalted has the highest degree of it. Hearing, sight, knowledge, power, life, wisdom, and the like exist in the created, but Allah has the highest and most perfect of them.
Therefore, sometimes we argue by rational implication from this angle, that is, from the angle of a fortiori analogy. For example, we say: Elevation is an attribute of perfection in the created. If it is an attribute of perfection in the created, then it is so in the Creator a fortiori. And we always find this in the words of the scholars.
So the statement of the author (may Allah have mercy on him): "And He is not compared to His creation" after his statement: "There is no name like His, no equal to Him, and no peer to Him" means the analogy that necessitates equality, which is comprehensive analogy and analogical likeness.
Yes, very well.
So analogy between Allah and creation is impossible. Why? Because of the disparity between them. And if in rulings we do not analogize the obligatory to the permissible, or the permissible to the obligatory, then in the chapter of attributes between the Creator and the created, it is a fortiori.
If someone said to you: Allah exists and the human exists, and we say: The existence of Allah is like the existence of the human by analogy.
And what do we say? It is not valid, because the existence of the Creator is obligatory, and the existence of the human is possible.
He said, good, hearing and my father's hearing, do I analogize the hearing of the Creator to the hearing of the created? We say: It is not possible. The hearing of the Creator is obligatory for Him, no deficiency befalls it, and it encompasses everything. And the hearing of the human is possible, because it is permissible for a human to be born deaf, and for a child born hearing to be afflicted with a deficiency, the deficiency of hearing. Good. And is his hearing comprehensive? It is limited. So analogy is not possible. It is not possible to compare Allah to His creation. So all the attributes of Allah cannot be compared to the attributes of His creation due to the clear great disparity between the Creator and the created.
And if in jurisprudential rulings we prevent analogy when the analogized and the analogized upon differ, then this is a fortiori.
Comprehensive analogy: This is what we know as the general term that encompasses all its individuals, such that every individual falls under the designation and meaning of that term. For example, if we say "life," the life of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, is not compared to the life of creation, because the name "Living" encompasses all of them. For example, it is clear. Good.
Analogical likeness: This means making what is established for the Creator like what is established for the created. This is the meaning of analogical likeness, because analogical likeness involves attaching one thing to another in ruling due to their similarity.
A fortiori analogy: The scholars say that this is used regarding Allah, due to the saying of the Exalted:
and for Allah is the highest attribute
وَلِلَّهِ الْمَثَلُ الأَعْلَىTherefore, sometimes we argue by rational implication from this angle, that is, from the angle of a fortiori analogy. For example, we say: Elevation is an attribute of perfection in the created. If it is an attribute of perfection in the created, then it is so in the Creator a fortiori. And we always find this in the words of the scholars.
So the statement of the author (may Allah have mercy on him): "And He is not compared to His creation" after his statement: "There is no name like His, no equal to Him, and no peer to Him" means the analogy that necessitates equality, which is comprehensive analogy and analogical likeness.
Yes, very well.
So analogy between Allah and creation is impossible. Why? Because of the disparity between them. And if in rulings we do not analogize the obligatory to the permissible, or the permissible to the obligatory, then in the chapter of attributes between the Creator and the created, it is a fortiori.
If someone said to you: Allah exists and the human exists, and we say: The existence of Allah is like the existence of the human by analogy.
And what do we say? It is not valid, because the existence of the Creator is obligatory, and the existence of the human is possible.
He said, good, hearing and my father's hearing, do I analogize the hearing of the Creator to the hearing of the created? We say: It is not possible. The hearing of the Creator is obligatory for Him, no deficiency befalls it, and it encompasses everything. And the hearing of the human is possible, because it is permissible for a human to be born deaf, and for a child born hearing to be afflicted with a deficiency, the deficiency of hearing. Good. And is his hearing comprehensive? It is limited. So analogy is not possible. It is not possible to compare Allah to His creation. So all the attributes of Allah cannot be compared to the attributes of His creation due to the clear great disparity between the Creator and the created.
And if in jurisprudential rulings we prevent analogy when the analogized and the analogized upon differ, then this is a fortiori.