AL-B ABU 'L-HADl . 'ASHAR

A TREATISE ON THE PRINCIPLES OF

SHl'ITE THEOLOGY

BY

HASAN B. YOSUF B.

'ALl IBNU'L-MUTAHHAR AL-HILLi

WITH COMMENTARY BY

MIQDAD-I-FAI;>IL AL-HILLl

TRANSLATED FROM THE ARABIC BY

WILLIAM McELWEE MILLER, M.A., B.D. MllltHBLl, I'&RSIA

LONDON PUBLISHED BY THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY

74, GROSVENOR STREET, W t

1928

FOREWORD

IN the year 1924 I had the privilege of studying for a few months under Dr. Duncan B. Macdonald of Hartford Theo­logical Semmary, and of readmg with hun the Arabic creed of An-Nasafi, a conmae statement of the tenets of the Sunnite Muslims. Before leaving Hartford I asked Dr. Macdonald to outhne a course of study which I m~ght profitably follow after returning to my work in Persia He suggested that I should try to find a Shi'Ite crMd, similar to that of An-Naeafi, and translate It mto Enghsh, since no adequate statement of the Shi'Ite doctrmes was available for Engllllh readers.

Accordingly, on reachmg Meshed I began to make inqumes in order to diBcover some such creed whwh was generally o.ooepted by the Shf'Ite doctors For some time I was un­successful, but at last one of my Mulla friends suggested to me "Al-Babu '1-l.Iildi 'Ashar," assurmg me that it was JUBt the book that I was seekmg. He said that It was Widely used m the madmsas of Mes!Ied as an introduction to scholastic theology and the ....U (the " prmmples" of the faith), and was generally o.ooepted as a correct exposition of the Shf'Ite dootrmes I secured a copy of the book, a very poor litho­graph dated 1320 A.B., and began to read it With the Mullil, without whose assiBtance I could have made but little headway >nit.

I found that the work consisted of a brief statement of the Shf'ite " principles " and a detailed commentary on the same, all in Arabic. The text ( matn) alone was too condensed to be of much value to the student. The commentary was some­what long, but the ariument was m most places so close that it would have been difficult to condense, so I decided to translate it in fnll. At Dr. Macdonald's suggestion I have added a few notes, prmmpally in order to explam the differences between the Shf'ite and Sunnite doctrines. In my translation

Vll

FOREWORD

I have endeavoured to a.dhe.re as closely as possible to the origina.I. In quoting the Koranic verses I have followed Rodwell's translation, except that, for the sake of uniformity, I have always used the tel'lllS A.lla.\ and Mecse'f'.ger (rasU!) instead of God and A.po8tle.

I wish to express here my deep appreciation to Dr. Mac­donald, who IDllpired me to undertake this task and aided me in performing 1t. I am also indebted to Dr. R. A. Nicholson oi Ca.mbndge Umversity ior his great kindness m correctmg my manuscript and securing its publication.

WILLIAM MoE. MILLER.

THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN MissioN,

MEsHED, PERSIA, .,... ______ ... __ .,._ tnn.,. .UC::~H~ "'"• .1 ;:,.;; lo

TABLE OF CONTENTS PA&&

8KBTOH OF 'ALL.iJu·I·I;fiLLi (BY TliB TRAlfBLATOR) XI

ilrrBoDUO'l'ION BY TH1II COIIMl!INTATOR (l AND 2) • 1 THE NBOEBSITY OF THE KNoWLEDGE oF THE PRl:NCII'Lns

OF RELIGION (3·20) 3

I. SEOTION 0Nll: Tmo PRooP OF THE SELF-ExiSTENT (21-37) 9

II. SEOTioN Two: At.Lh'es PosiTIVE QuALITIBS (38-82) 15 (1) He LS Powerful e.nd Free (38-50) 15 (2) He IS Know1ng (51·56) 19 (3) He1s Lnnng (57-58) 21 (4) He .. a W1Jier and a D•sbker (59-65) 22 (5) He ,. a Perceiver (66-68) 24 (6) He " Eternal (69-71) 24 (7) He •• a Speaker (72-80) 25 (8) He is Verac•ous (81-82) 28

UI. SBOTION THBBE: ALL!a's PBIVATIVB Qu.o.t.rriJIS (83-llO) 30 (1) He 1s not compounded (83-85) 30 (2) He 1s not a body (86-96) 81 (3) He 18 not a loons for onginated tlungs (97-99) 34 (4) He is not Vl8lble (100-102) 35 (5) He has no partner (103-105) 37 (6) He has no 1deas and states (106-108) 38 (7) He has no need (109-110) - 39

IV. SBOTION FOUB: ALLAH'S JUSTIOB (lll-151) 40 (I) Reason is the judge as to good and eVIl (111-117) 40 (2) Men are free agents (118-122) 42 (3) Evil is impossible in AllAh (123-126) 44 (4) AllAh acts wtth a.n aim (127-143) • "

(o) TIUs aim io man's advantage (1211·130) 46 (b) Takllf,. n.........,.y (131-143) • 46

(5) Kindn- is incumbent upon AllAh (144-148) 50 (6) Recompense fOT suJfering is mcumbent upon AllAh

(149-151) 62 iz

TABLE OF CONTENTS I'AOr

V. 8:mCTION FIVE• PROPHECY (i52-i73) 54 (I) Proof of the llllSSion of Mul;lammad (157-163) ll6 (2) The Prophet must be Immune to sm (164-166) 58 (3) The Prophet must be all h1s hie 1mmune to sin

(167-169) 59 (4) The Prophet must be the best of the people of lua

age (170, 171) 60 (5) TheProphetmustbefreefromalldefects(172-173) • 60

VI. SEoriON Six: THB IMAMATE (174-218) 62 (!)The lm~te 18 necessary (174-178) 62 (2) Th~ Tm!l_.m must be 1mrm.me to sm (179-185) 64 (3) The ImAm must be specified (186-188) 68 (4) Tho Imam must. be the bast of the pcopl<' of bs age

(189-190) 69 (5} The Lufima ~ver Muhammad a-re 'Alt (191-209) &nd

h1s eleven descendants (210-218) 69

VII. SBoriON SEVEN. THE RETURN (219-244) • 82 (i) The Resurrection, Bndge, Seaies, etc . must be

accepted (219-225) 82 (2) Reward and PuniShment (226-236) 84 (3) Repentance (237-240) 88 (4) Command and ProhJbJbon (241-244) 89

NoTES oN THE TExT (nv THE TRANSLATOR) 92

INDEX OF }"~Alft.Ji:S AND IMPORTANT ARABIC \VOR.DS ]()2

SKETCH OF •ALLAMA-1-l;IILLi

~SAN b. Yilsuf b. 'Ali h. Muj;ahhar al-l;Iilll, commonly known as 'AIIB.ma-i-I;Iilli or 'Allilma, was born 19 Rama.Q.an 648/1250, and died 11 M~arram 726/1326. He studied jurisprudence and scholastic theology and the prinmples (us!ll), and Arabic and the other sciences of the law with h1s uncle, the Doctor of the people of the House (of the Prophet), NaJmu'd-Din Ahft'l­QO.srm Ja'far b. Sa'id-•-l:hlli entitled M~aqq1q-1-Awwal (d. 726/1325; see Browne's u PerSian Literature m Modern Ttmes," pp. 378, 405), and w1th his fatherShaykh Sadidu'd-Din Yftsufb. al-Mutahhar. And he studied phtlosophrcal subjects With the master of mankmd, KhwaJa Na~iru'd-Din-i-Tftsi (d. 672/1274; see Browne, p. 405), and others of the Shl'ites and Sunmtes.

'Allilma 1s sa1d to have wntten 500 books. Among ills works mentioned m the Qisasu'l-'Ulami 18 "Mmh8.ju's-~al8.1),"

which consisted of ten chapters. "Al-Babu '1-.I;IO.di 'Ashar" was later added to tills book as an eleventh chapter. The matn (text) only is the work of 'Allilma. The commentary was wntten by Mlqd8d-•-Farul, also of .l;lilla, who hved and composed commentanes on theologlCal works durmg the latter part of the eighth century A.H.

'Allilma was born Just e1ght years before the capture of Baghdad by the Mongols. During ills youth Persia was rnled by the 11-Khans, the descendants of Hftlil.gO.. It was a time of bloodshed and confuSlon, hut with the invaSlon of the Mongols there also came a revival of trade and of letters. The first n-Khans were heathen, but they showed great favour towards the Christmns, and carr1ed on negotmtions With the Christian rulers of Europe regarding a united attack upon the Muslims. Accordingly there was more freedom for the discussion of religious questions than had previously existed. Several of the 11-Khans were on the point of beeom-

xi

xii SKETCH OF •ALL!MA-I-I;ULJ1

ing Christians, but the influence of IslAm finally prevailed, and at last m 1295 A.D. (when 'All8.ma was forty-five years of age) GMzan became a Muslim and threw his influence on the &de of Islam., He ehowed great favour toward the Shi'Ites, and enriched the ehrmes of Karbalii and Mashhad.

GMzan was followed by Ulj8yti1 Khuda Banda, who had been baptiZed m mfancy as a Christian, but who, on his acceSSlon to the throne in 1305 A.D., confirmed the Islamic laws of hiB predecessor. At first he was a I;Ianafite; later he inclmed to the SMfi'Ite doctnne, and finally, after seemg a viswn on the occaswn of a VISit to the tomb of 'Ali at Naja£, he became a Shi'Ite. He was fond of rehgwus d!BcusaJon, and the doctors of the various schools were brought before hw to expound therr doctrines. The followmg stoma, which tell something of 'Allama' s part m the kmg' s conversiOn, are taken from the "Qisa~u'l-'Uiama," which was written m 1290 A H.

by Muhanimad b. Sulaymil.n of Tanukabun (see Browne, pp. 354, 355).

In the h!Btory of I;Iiifiz Abru (see Browne's "Persian Literature under Tartar Dommion," pp 424-426) 1t IS recorded that when the falsity of the faith of the people of trad!twn and agreement (the Sunrutes) had to some extent become clear to Sultan D"IJuyti1 Muhanimad-I-Khuda Banda (1303-1316 A D.,

see Browne's '' Persmn Literature under Tartar DoiD.Iruon," pp 46-51), he commanded that the Imarmte doctors be sum­moned. When 'Ailuma came With the other doctors It was appomted that KhwaJa NIZamu'-Din 'Abdu'I-Mahk·I· Macighi, who was the greatest of the Shafi'Ite doctors, and m fact of all the Sunrute doctors, should diSpute With the honoured 'Ailama. And 'Ailama diSputed with the KhwaJa and proved the nmnterrupted succes&on of the Commander of the Faithful ('Ali) and the fallacy of the claw of the three Shaykhs of the • Sunrutes With convmcmg arguments and clear reasons, and he set forth the pre-emmence of the rehg10n of the Imarmtes m such a manner that there was no posmbiiity of doubt left to those who were present. And when the Khwiija heard the reasons of the honoured 'Allama, he S8ld, " The strength of the arguments ia exceedmgly plain, but smce past generatiOns have

xill

w~ed m a cert-...am waj, and men at present have drawn the curtain of silence over their IIlllltakes m order to bridle the 1g110rant.and remove the dlfierences m the iaJ.th (kaiimaj oi WArn, It is therefore fittmg that they should not rend the veil and curse them."

}_. story is told of Sult!n "O!jS.ytU., who had a Wl.fe whom he loved very much. Once he spoke the triple divorce formula to her, and the iawyers oi Islam sud there was no way to take her back except by her first bemg marned to another and havmg rum divorce her. He mqUired whether there was not some other sect wluch prov1ded anot.her way. They rephed that the J:ma=tes did, but they were few m number. So he sent to I;hlia ior their doctors, and 'AUitma c81De to hun. On entenng the room he took off his shoes and came in With them m rue hand. The courtiers blamed him for not pros­t.ratmg lum~e!f, but he answered that one should bow be.fore God only. Then they asked him why he had not left his shoes at the door. He replied that he had heard that the Prophet had gone to a meetmg of MB.Wntes and his shoes had been stolen, and smce there were MB.hlntes present he wanted to watch rue Rhoes_ They laughed at h!m for h•s 1gnoranee, and told h•m that MB.hk had hved 100 years after the trme of the Prophet. He Bald he had forgotten, 1t was not the Ml\hintes but the l.fanbahtes. Agam they corrected him, and so for all four of the sects ofthe Sunrutes. " Then," he said, " 1f all four ofthe ImB.ms hved after the Prophet, how tlu'l they or~gmate these sects !" And he completely refuted thelf doctnnes.

"\V e ace told that 'A.Uan1a was one~ go.w.g to Karbali on p!lgrwage nchng on a donkey, when a stranger JOmed him. They began to tallr, and the stranger proved to be a very learned man. 'AIIB.ma brought to him all hiS problems, and he solved them. He answered '.AIJ.ama's obJeCtiOns by refer­rwg him to certam txad1t10ns of wluch he was Isuora.nt, gn.-ing book and page and hne, and when 'All8.ma later oonsnlted these books he found that all the references were correct. Fmally 'AIIB.ma asked him whether the Ihdden Im8.m conld be seen or not. Just then 'A118.ma's whip fell to the ground. The stranger stooped a.nd picked 1t up and gave 1t to hun,

SKEI'CH OF •ALI.AMA.I.J;!ILLi

saying, " Wny not see him, when Jus h&nds are in yours i" and then he disappeared.

As for MiqdAd-i-Fa.dil, the author of the commentary, I have been u.na.ble to lea...-n anything of the sto.r1 of hiB life from the b1ographies which I have consulted. He is not so well known as '.Allama, but for our purpose his commentary is of mo:re yaJ.ue t.h!!!l is the matn of '). llil.ma, wh;eh is frequently too condensed to be wholly mtelligible.

AL-BABU 'L-I:IAD1 'ASHAR

INTRODUCTION

1. ALLAH the Most ffigh ihd not create the world ill vam, ill which case He would be ouly a tnfier, but With purpose and W!Sdom wluch can be ascertamed by those who consider. And He specified that purpose expressly when He said, " I have not created Jmn nnd men, but that they should worsh1p ma, (Koran 51: 56) Hence 1t lS illcumbent upon everyone who belongs to the company of rat10nai bemgs to respond to the Lord of the Worlds. And &nce that lS rmposs1ble w1thout a certsill knowledge (ma'nfa) of H1m, 1t Is mcumbent upon every respons1ble person who knows _A_lHh t.o arouse the slothful and gmde the ernng by wr~tmg out and expla1mng the mtroductory treatiSes of men of understandmg. And among these illtroductJOns 1s the one called ai-Bdbu 'l-Hddt 'Ashar (" The Eleventh Chapter"), one of the compos1tlons of our Shaykh and Imil.m, and the Imil.m of the world, the most knowmg, the most excellent, and the most perfect, the Sultan. of the masters of urvestigatwn, the preceptor of those who search and examme, the wnter on subJects for illtellectual mvest1gat10n, the arranger of legal reasons, the s1gn of Allah in the worlds. the herr of the WISdom of the prophets and apostles, the perfectiOn of the People and the Rehg1on, AbU Maru;n1r al-!Jn.san b. YU.suf b. ' ... ill b. al-Mutahhar al-~1111

('Allama-1-I;lilli)-may Allah sanct1fy h1s spmt and Illumme ins tomb.

2. And m sp1te of the conciSeness of its expressiOn tlus treatise abounds in knowledge, and ill sp1te of the abbreVIatiOn of its style 1t abounds 1n wealth. .And m t1me past I had lut.d the desue to write sometlung as an aid to the understanding of it by composmg the reason and pruof:s, w re::3ponse to the request of some of the brethren. Then lundering events and

1

2 AL-B!Bu 'L-J;IADl 'ASHAR

the rebuffs of treacherous fortune held me back from finishing it, for these things cut a man off from accomphsbing Ius will and attaming Ius purpose, and stand between him and his demre. Then there occurred gatherings and discussions on several journeys, along with the piling up of business and the <hsturbance of my thoughts. And some of the great be­sought me to go back to the consideration and thought of what I had first wntten and to return to what I had collected. So I agreed to thmr request, for .Allah the Most lligh made 1t mcumbent upon me to respond to It, m spite of the lack of worldly goods and the excesSive number of engagements wluch hmdered me from doing It. And I begm 1t seekmg ud from Allah the Most High for 1t, and dra wmg near to Him by means of It, and I called It a!-N afi'u !.- Y aumt !-HasM- m explanatiOn of a!-Babu '!-Hddi 'Ashar. And there IS no success except through AII.th, in whom I trust and to whom I shall return.

.AL-BABU 'L-J;L\Dt 'ASHAR (THE ELEVENTH C!!..LPTER)

3. CoNCERNING WHAT IS INCUMBENT (wajib) UPON ALL

MUKALLAFS REGARDING THE KNOWLEDGE (ma'nfa) OF THE

FO'!n-IDAT!ONS OF REL!CION (din). It IS called the Eleventh Chapter because the writer made an

auureviatolOn 01 me ":Dll~bi}.tu·l-Mutaha.JJIU wlnch Shaykh Til.sl wrote concernmg worship and prayer, and arranged it in ten chapters and gave to this abbreviatton of the " Mi~bah " the title of "Mmhajn's-l;lalah." And smce that book was concerned with the science of conduct ('amal) and worship and prayer, thP.se thm~ req_ui_l'ed a knowledge (m~t'rda) of the Object of worship and of Hnn to whom prayer is offered. So he added th1a eleventh chapter.

4. BEING INCUMBENT (wuJftb) as a word means established and fallen, as in AUah's word, " And when they are faiien (wajabat) over on therr sidee "(Koran 22: 37). And m nsage wdJih is that the neglect of which involves blame under certam circumstances. And It is of two kmds. (I) that which is incumbent m Iteelf, that is, that whwh no one can perform for another; and (2) that wffich is mcumbent by su .. ffimcncy (krlilyatan), and It IS the oppoSite of the first. Knowledge (maLrrfaj IB of the first kmd, and for that reason he S8ld, " it IS mcumbent upon all muka!!afs."

II. And a MUKALLAF IS a human bemg, ahve, adult (ma.lee over fifteen and females over nme years of age), and rational. So dead persons, children, and msane persons are not mukaUafs.

ft Ani'lll'nnwn.t..'I'Tn'N'A (nA.iil\ Hl the nlnr.A.l nf n.Rl. A.nfllA +.hAt. -- ----- --·------·- ,-.--, -- --- .r---- -- - .. -~ ---- ---~

upon which somethmg else is bmlt. 7. And RELIGION (din) as a word means requital, aa swd

the Prophet, " As thou treatest men (ta.dlnu) so shalt thou be treated." And in usage it means way (ta.rtqa) and law (shari' a), and that is the meaning here. And this science is called

3

4 AL-BABU 'L-I:f A T>:i 'ASHAR

'' foundat1ona '' becauoo the other rehgioua sciences, trad.ltion and jurisprudence and exegesis, are built upon It. And it depends on the veracity of the Messenger_ And the veracity of the Messenger depends on the veramty of the Sender and His quahties and Hts justiCe and the ImpossibJ.hty of there bemg cvll in F.a.llll. .A.nd the smence of " foUlldatrons " is that iu which the unity of AJ.Jah the Most Htgh and Hts quahties and Hls justiCe and the prophecy of the prophets and the acknowledgement of that wluch the Prophet brought and the nnamate of the Imams and the return (ma'dd) are

8. AND THE DOCTORS HAVE ALL AGREED !N CONS!DEP.!!-TG

INCUMBENT THE KNOWLEDGE (ma'rrla) OF .ALLAH THE MOST

HIGH AND OF HIS POSITIVE AND PRIVATIVE QUALITIES AND OF

WHAT IS PROPER FOR HIM AND OF WHAT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM

AND OF PROPHECY AND OF THE IMAMATE AND OF THE RETURN.

9. Those of the. people of Mnhammad who hl'l.ve the powe:r to loose and bmd (that IS, the mull4s, cf. Matt 16. 19) have agreed m saymg that a knowledge of these thmgs 1s mcumbent, and theu agreement IS a convmcmg proof for all-for us Sh1'1tes, because of the presence among them of the One JmmunA to Sm (al-m.a.'F'/lm., that lR, t,hA JmR.m whose a.uthm·1ty alone IS suffiCient for the Shl'J.tes); and for the rest (the Sun· wtes) because o£ the Prophe~'s word, "1\Iy people w1ll not agree 1n an error ''

10. And m additiOn to agreement, the proof that knowledge is mcumbent IS of two kmds, rational ('aqll) and tradttiOnal (sam'!). (1) Now the ratiOnal proofs are two. (a) The first IS

that knowledge g-uards agamst the fear wluch r~ults fro:w. drfferences. And guardmg agamst fear IS moumbent, for fear IS pam to the soul. Now guardmg agamst pam IS possible. Therefore reason pronounces mcumbent the guardmg agamst fear, hence guarding agamst It '18 incumbent.

[From the presence of rehgwus differences among men J.t is evident that many men do not know God, and that therefore they w1ll go to hell. ThiS results m fear, £rom which only the knowledge of God can save us.]

PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS KNOW.uEDGE G

(h) &l'-0nd; exp't€'.SS3!0n of grat.it.ude to a benefactor is ln. cumbent. But thiB cannot be done unless one knows him. N uw it ~ mcumbent, ior all rational beings know that iailure to express gratitude deserves blame. But it cannot be done wrthout knowledge. For the expressiOn of gratitude must be of a kmd smta.h1A t,n the condthon of t.he one to be t.hankerl and that comes only from knowmg hnn-otherwrse tt is not lUl e.x.pre~~:~J.uu uf gratitude Now the Most High Creator IS a Benefactor Therefore expressiOn of gratttude to H= IB

mcumbent. Therefore the knowledge of H= is mcumbent. 8

And since takUf (thA 1mpo~1t1on of a task) 1s necessary (WaJtb) on ratwnal grounds, as shall appear later (see pars. 131·143), iL 11:1 J.llClUllLeut that une know the allllouncer (muballigh) of It, that IS the Prophet, and the guardian of It, that IB, the Imam, and the &turn, because takllf reqwres the necesBlty (wuJftb) of reqwtaJ.b

11. (2) Now for the tradttlonal proof, which IB of two kmds: (a} Frrst, the word of the Most H1gh, "Know then, that there ts no god but Allah" (47· 2I) And this IS a command makmg It mcumbent. (b) Second, when there descended the word of Allah, "Vertly. m the creatwn of the Heavens and of the Earth, and m the successiOn ol the rught and of the day are signs for men of understandmg H (3. r86), the Prophet said, "Woe be to hun who reads tlns wrth his tongue but has not reflected upon It I" Thus he attributes blame m case of fatlure to reflect upon tt, that ts, the fatlure to make deductton {Istidl§J) from what the verse eontamed m the mentwn of the heavenly and earthly bodJ.es, becuuse rn them ure evidences of workmanship and power. And the knowledge ('tim) of these things certamly proves the existence of their Creator (f;lilni'), and Hts power and Ills knowledge Hence reflection and deduction become mcumbent. and that was what we were seekmg to demoful-tra.te.

12. AND ALL OF THIS IS BY PROOF (dalll), NOT BY IMITATION

(taqlld). 13. And PROOF (dalll) as a word meatiB a director (murshid)

and g-uide (d&ll), and in usage It means a thing the knowledge

6 AL-B!BU 'L ~1 'ABHAB

('ilm) of which necessitates the knowledge of another thing. And since knowledge (ma'rifa) is incumbent, it is necessary that it be acquired by means of reflection and deduction. For mn.'rifa is not of necessity (dariirl), for what is known of necessity is that in which rational beings do not differ. Now 'ilm is acquired by means of the smallest cause by the duectwn of the mind upon it, or by the perceptiOn of it by the senses, such &a the judgment that one is a half of two, and that fire burns, and that the sun is bnght, and hkeWise that we are sub· )ect to fear and anger and strength and weakness and so forth.

14. But ma'rifa is not hke that, because there IS a difference of opinion about 1t, and because it cannot be acqUired merely by the direction of the mmd upon 1t, and because 1t cannot be perce1ved by the senses. Hence the first statement IS de· monstrated, because 'ilm includes both necessary knowledge and speculative (11a7-ari) knowledge. Hence speculation and deduction become incumbent. For that Without which a thing absolutely mcumbent cannot be perfonned and by which it is controlled is itself incumbent. (There are two kinds of obligations (wiljib), absolute, hke nan!ilz, and oonditwned, like hajj.) Because whenever anything on which a thing absolutely mcumbent depends IS not itself mcumbent, then the thing absolutely incumbent e1ther remains mcumbent or it does not. If the first be the case, then there becomes necessary a takltj which cannot be perfonned, and tlus JS

impossible, &a shall later appear (pars. 134-136). And if the second be the case, then it becomes necessary that a tlung absolutely incumbent shall cease to be incumbent, and tlus also is impossible.

[That is, knowledge is incumbent, therefore investiga­tion is also incumbent. For if it were not, then either a thing (namely, ma'rifa) would be incumbent which could not be attamed-and this is impoSSible; or else a thing absolutely incumbent becomes non-incumbent-which is also impossible.]

lll. And speculation (n&J&r) is the orderly arrangement of kncwn facts (umftr) in order to arrive at another fact. And in

PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE 7

explanation of this-first the soul (nafs) conceives the object sought, then It acqmres the sound preuuses neoe"""'Y for makmg a deduction, and then it l!ol'l'all8es them m order so as to arnve at a knowledge of the obJect.

16. And It 18 not possible (Jil.'!Z) that knowledge (ma'rlfa) of the Most High be by lDlltatJ.on (taqlid). And taqltd is the acceptance of the word of another without proof (dalil). And thiB statement of ours has two aspects. (1) First, when mankmd are eqnal m respect of knowledge ('ilin) and drffer from one another m behef, then a mukallaf must ruther accept all that which others beheve (m whiCh case the agreement of things IrreconCilable becomes necessary), or else he must accept some thmgs and not others. In the latter case there 18

either somethmg to cause a preponderance of opmwn (muraj­Jlh), or there 11 not. If there be something which causes the preponderance, then that IS the proof (dalil). But 1! there be not, then It becomes neceosary for there to be a preponderance Without anythmg to cause It, and this IS Impossible.

17. (2) Second, the Most High has blamed imitation (taqlid) by H1s word, " But say they, ' Verily, we have found our fathers of that persuaswn and venly by their footsteps do we gwdeourselves' "(43. 21). And He hasmCited ua to specula­tiOn and deductiOn by HIB word, " Brmg me a Book sent down by them before thiB Koran, or traces of their knowledge-if ye are men of truth " ( 46: 3).

18. AND 80 IT IS NECESSARY TO MENTION THOSE THINGS

REGARDING WHICH IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR A SINGLE MUSLIM

TO BE IGNORANT, AND WHOEVER IS IGNORANT AS TO ANY OF

THEM IS OUTSIDE THE BOND (ribqa) OF BELIEVERS AND

DESERVES EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT.

19. Smce the knowledge (ma'rifa) of the above-mentioned things has been proved to be incumbent, It necessarily follows that It is incumbent upon every Mushm. That Is, he should affirm the two testinionies (that there IB no god but Allilli and that Mnl)ammad IS HIB Prophet) in order that through know­ledge he should become a behever, accordmg to the word of the Most High, "The Arabs of the desert say, 'We believe'

8 AL-BABU 'L-~i 'ASHAR

Say thou: Ye believe not; but r-ather say, ''v~ profess hlam.' " (49: I4)· He denied faith (al-i:man)• to them, although they affirmed their behe£ m d1vinity and prophecy, because their fa.1t.h d_ul not. denve itB eYlAt.ence from spe.cnla.t10n and deduc­tiOn. And smce reward (thawab) IS conihtioned by fruth, one who 1s 1gnorant of the knowiedge oi these things deserves everlasting pUlllllhment. For everyone who is undeservmg of any reward whatever, prov1ded he 1s m possesswn of the quahhes whic.h const1t't.1t-e the condttlons of tald.£f (see par. 5), IS deservmg of punishment by agreement (of all Musluns).

20. BoND (nbqa) is a iong rope w1th space enough to bmd arumals W1thm 1t. And the author uses the tenn metaphor!· cally for the mclUBive command whwh rests upon behevers, the desert (for obedience to wlnch) is reward and cvcrlastm.g honour.

SECTION I

21. ANn HE HAS ARRANGED THIS CHAPTER IN SECTIONS.

THE FIRST SECTION IS IN PROOF OF THE SELF- EXISTENT (wiiJ>bu'l·wuJUd! h-dhatllu, the necessanly ex1stent m 1tse!f). So WE SAY THAT EVERY OBJECT OF THOUGHT IS EITHER

NECESSARILY EXISTENT OBJECTIVELY IN ITSELF, OR IS POSSIBLE

OF EXISTENCE IN ITSELF (mumkmu'l-wuJftd), OR ELSE IS IMPOSSIBLE OF EXIST.I!:NOE IN ITSEL1P (mumtam'u'l-WUJftd)

22. The subJect wh1eh IS supreme and of extreme importance m th1s sClence 1s the Provmg of the Creator (~am') So he begms to do th1s And as an mtroductwn he g1ves a d!VlS!On of the objects of thought, because the argument to follow depends on trus explanatwn And m explanatwn of that, EVERY OBJECT OF THOUGH1' (kul!u Ina'qftl) means the form (as-sfua) winch IS acqmred m the nund whenever we brmg ObJective existence mto relatiOn to 1t Then 1t IS e1ther sound for 1t (the obJeCtive eXJstence) to be quahfied by It (the mental1mage) m Itself, or •t IS not. If 1t IS not sound for 1t to be qualified by 1t m 1tself, that IS •mposS'!ble exMtenee •n ttself, as (for example) the Creator's havmg a partner. But 1f 1t IS sound for 1t to be qualified by It, then 1t IS e1ther neces· sary (waJ!b) for 1t to be qualified by 1t m >tsel£, or 1t 1s not. If the former be true, then 1t lS the necessar.Zy emstent •n ttself, namely, Allah the Exalted, and no other. And 1f the latter be true, then 1t IS pomble of emstence m 1tself, namely, all ent>t>es (maWJftdat) apart from necessary eXIstence.

23. But we have confined the "Necessary" (al-waJ!b) to that winch 1s necesWHy •n ttself, to guard agamst the necessary because of something else, such as the necessity of the eXIstence of an effect when a su.ffiment cause is present. (That 1s, there are two kinds of necessary, self-emstent and e:mstent in some­th•ng else--but the term the Necessary should be used only of the former.) So the effect is necessary, not m itself, but rather becal!lle of the existenoe of a sufficient cause.

D

10

24. And we have also confined the " impossible " to that which is imposstble tn uself, to guard agamst the impossible because of somelkimg else, such 88 the unpossibihty of the existence of an effect without its cause. And these two sorts (namely, the necessary because of something else and the im­pos.Wle because of somdhing else) belong to possible eXIStence.

25. And as for the " possible," Its eXIstence does not come about because of somethmg else, so It IS of no use to confine it to that which IS possible m Itself, except to explam that It does not come mto being except in that way. There is no need of gnardmg against anything besides.

26. We will end thiS diScuSSion by mentwnmg two matters of unportance on whwh the discussion that is to follow de­pends. (1) The first IS the characteristiCs of the necessanly e:mstent 1n uself, whwh are five· (a) Frrst, Its exiBtence IS not necessary both because of Itself and because of somethmg else at the same tune, otherwise 1ts exiStence would certamly be dlScontmued on the dtscontmuance of the eXIStence of the other thmg, m which case It would not be the necessary m Itself, and that 1s contrary to the preilllses. (b) Second, Its existence (wuJftd) and Its necessity are not addttwns (za'Id) to it, otherwiSe It would have been m need of those two, and would then have been the possible. (c) Thrrd, compositiOn (tarkib) IS not true of It, because a thmg composed ISm need of parts distmct from It, and that IS possible eXIStence, and possible exiStence is not the self-eXlBtent. (d) Fourth, It cannot be a part of another tiling, for then It would have been parted from that other thing, and that IS poBBlble eXIStence. (That IS, God has no father or source.) (e) Fifth, It cannot be true of two things, as shall appear m the proofs ofthe Unity (that is, there are not two necessarily self-existents).

27. (2) The second matter is the characteristics of the pos.Wle, which are three: (a) F!rBt, one of the two Sides (I mean existence and non-eXIStence) IS not better for It than the other, but both are equal in relation to It, hke the two sides of a balance. And making one of the two sides to preponderate certainly comes about by a cause outside of itself. For if one of them were better for It than the other, then the occurrence

PROOF OF THE SELF-EXISTENT 11

of the other (that is, the worse) either comes about or It does not. If the worse occurs, then bemg better IB not a suffiCient cause; and If the worse does not occur, then the first supposi­tiOn regardmg It 1s neceBB!U'Y for it (that IB, that one altemat1ve IS better for 1t than the other). In thiB case the possible becomes either the necessary or the imposstble, and that cannot be.

28. (b) Second, the possible needs a mover (mu'aththll'). For when the two s1des (I mean, 1ts eXIstence and non-eXIstence) are equal in relatiOn to It, the preponderance of one of the two over the other 1s not possible unless there be somethmg to cause a preponderance. And the knowledge of th1s IB evident.

29. (c) Thll'd, the poss1ble-whwh-ab!des needs a mover, not only to brmg it mto eXIstence (see b) but also to contmue it m exiBtenoe. But we have said tlus because possibility (al­nnkan) IS reqmred for the qmdd1ty of the possible, and possi­bility cannot be removed from It, otherwise Its change from poBB1blhty to necessity or IIDposSiblhty would be reqmred. Now It has already been proved that need (IhbyaJ) iS reqmrerl for possibility, and poSBihihty IS reqmred for the qmdd!ty of the poss1ble. Now the reqmrement of somethmg reqwred IS Itself requll'ed. Hence the need of the qmddJ.ty of the poss1ble IS reqmred-whwh IS what we sought.

30. AND THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT HERE (IN THE UNIVERSE)

THERE IS THAT WHICH EXISTS 011 NECESSITY. IF THIS BE THE

NECESSARY IN ITSELF, THEN THAT WAS WHAT WE WERE SEEK­

mG. AND IF IT BE THE POSSIBLE, THEN IT WOULD NEED A

BRINGER-INTO-EXISTENCE (mujid) WHICH WOULD BRING IT

INTO EXISTENCE OF NECESSITY. Now Ill THE BRINGER-INTO·

EXISTENCE BE THE NECESSARY IN ITSELF, THEN THAT WAS

WHAT WE WERE SEEK1NG, AND IF IT BE THE POSSIBLE, THEN

IT WOULD NEED ANOTHER BRINGER•INTQ-EXISTENCE. lF IT BE

THE FlllllT, THEN IT IS A CIBOLE, AND THAT IS A FALLACY OF

NECESSITY. AND IF IT BE ANOTHER POSSIBLE, THEN IT IS AN

ENDLESS CIUIN, AND THAT ALSO IS A FALLACY. FoR ALL THE

LINKS IN THIS CIUlN WHICH INCLUDES ALL POSSIBLE EXISTENCES

(al-mumkinat) ARE POSSIBLE OF NECESSITY. HENCE THEY

12 AL-BABU 'L.HADi 'ASHAlt

SHARE IN THE IMPOSSIBILIT'.l OF EXISTElWE ll.f THEMSELVES.

HENCE THEY NEED SOME BRINGER-INTO-EXISTENCE NECEs­

SARILY OUTSIDE OF THEMSELVES. THEN THAT IS THE

NECESSARY (al-Wajlh) OF NECESSITY-WHICH WAS WHAT WE

WERE SEEKING.

31. .A.mong all the doctors there are two ways of proVIng the Creator (1) FirSt, seeking for proof m effects (ilthar) whiCh need a cause for therr exiStence, such as 1s md.Icated in Hrs Mighty Book m the word of the Most High, " We wrll show them our s1gns m d1fferent countnes and among themselves tJJl 1t become plam to them that 1t 1s the truth.'' (41: 53) .!.n.d th1s IS the way of Ibrahim the Fr1end, for he sought for proof 1n the settmgs of stars, whiCh IS disappearance, and that requrres motwn, and that reqmres becommg (huduth), and that reqmres the Most High Creator

32. (.2) .Sec.ond, t.hat one should. speculate (na.zar) about that wluch exrsts rtself, and dJvrde 1t mto the necessary and the possible, that dtviBwn may bear witness to the e::nstence of the necessary from wh!Ch proceed all of the poss1ble eXISt­ences wh!Ch are separare from 1t And there IS reference to th1R m t.hat whwh de,scended, m the word of the Most. High, " Is 1t not enough for thee that thy Lord IS Witness of all Lhwgs 'l" (41- 53)

33. And m tills chaprer the wr1rer has referred to both ways at once. He refers to the first m connectiOn w1th Hrs bemg powerful, the explanatiOn of whwh IS to follow (see par 38) And the second is what IS mentwned here. And as for lus statement that thou sh.ouldest say, ''If the Necessary, the Most H~gh, does not eXISt, then either a cJrole or an endless chain must follow," (1t IS clear that) both of the things neces­Sitated are false, hence that wluch necessitated them, that 1s, the non-eXISrence of the Necessary, JB m hke manner false. And there 1s need here o£ an explanation o£ both matters, :5.....-st of the neeeSS!ty for a CJrcle and an endless cham, and second of the fallacy of both of them.

34. (1) Now in explanation of the first matter, (we would say that) there are here quiddities (mA!uyyat) wluch are quah­£.ed by objective existence of neceSSlty. If the Neceaaa.ry

PROOF OF THE SELF-EXISTENT 13

exists along w1th them, then thst was what we were seekmg. And 1f 1t does not ex1st, then 1t becomes necessary thst all these qwddit1es share m poss1bihty, for there 1s no m1ddle groUlld between them (that IS, between the poSS1ble and the necessary). Then m this case they (the qwdd1t1es) must of necessity hsve a mover (mu'aththrr). And 1f thmr mover 1s the Necessary, thst IS whst we scught to prove And 1f 1t lB

the poss1ble, then 1t needs another to produce 1t. Now If that mover be what we first supposed (If 1t be caused by the other possible), 1t results m a Circle. And 1£ 1t be anotiulr possible, we WJll transfer the discusswn to that and say whst we sa1d regarding the first-and the result IS an endless cham. So the necessity (luzfun) of both of them has been proved (that IS, e1ther a crrcle or an endless cham must result m case there IS no Necessary)

35. (2) And m explanation of the second matter, namely, the fallacy of the crrcle and the cham, we say. (a) that a crrcle means the dependence of a thmg upon somethmg whwh m turn depends on 1t, as for example that A should depend on B, and B on A -and that IS a fallacy of necess1ty. For 1t would then be necessary that the first thmg should be both eXIStent and non-eXIStent at the same tlille, and that cannot be. For when A depends on B, then A IS dependent on B and on all on whwh B depends. And among the thmgs on whwh B depends IS A 1tsel£. Then A must depend on 1tself. And that on wluch somethmg depends precedes that wruch depends on 1t. Then 1t IS necessary for A to precede 1tself. And thst which pre­cedes, by the fact that 1t precedes, comes mto eXIStence before that wluch follows. So m th1s case, A comes mto enstence before 1tself. Hence it IS both ex1stent and non­existent at the same t1me, and that IS Impossible.

36. (b) And an endless cham 1s the arrangement of causes and effects m such a way thst each one wruch precedes IS the cause of the one wluch follows, and so on-and thiS alsc IS

fallacwus. For all the mdiv,dual links of thiS chsin, which includes all posSible enstence, are po8S!ble because they possess the quahty of need. Hence they all share in posst· bility. Hence they need a mover (a cause}. And their mover

14

is either themselves or a part of themselves or something external to them. And all of these alternatives are absolutely fallaciOus.

37. F1rst, 1t is impo881ble for a thing to be moved (ta'thlr) by itself, for otherwise 1t would be necessary for it to precede 1tse.lfj And thu~ is a fallsocy, as was proved abnve. And t.hA second is 1mpos81ble, because lf the mover of them (the units of the cham.j be a part o£ them, the:u 1t becomes u.ece88ilfy for a thmg to be the mover of 1tself, because 1t (the mover) '" one of their number and also one of their causes ('dal). Then it would have to precede 1tself and 1ts causes-and th1s also IS a fallacy. And the (proof of the fallacy of the) third alter­native iS of two kmda. {a) FliSt, the thing eTvernal to them must be necessary (wltJ!b), smce it 18 presupposed that aU possible existences are umted m thiS cham, and there remams no external ent1ty (maWJftd) except the Necessary (al-wltjib). For there "' no rmddle ground between the Necessary and the poBBlble Hence our conc!uewn hae t.o be true. (~) Second, lf the mover of each 81Dgle mdtVJdual of the hnks of the cham be somethmg externai to them, then two mdependent causes ('Jila) would have to untte m producmg one smgle effect, and tlus LS a fallacy. For the supposttlOn was that each of the hnh of thH! cha1n be the mover of the one that follows (But aooordmg to tlus third alternative) 1t has been supposed that Ior each of the l.wks there be also an e:\-ternal mov1ng (ta'thl.t). Then two causes would have to umte m producmg one =gle effect, and that cannot be, otherwiSe 1t would have to be mdependent of the two causes, m sp1te of 1ts bemg m need of them both. Then two contradiCtories would have to agree, and that is u:npooo1ble. Hence the .. T\r11ess cham 18 absolutely false. So the fallacy both of the cirCle and of the chain has been demonstrated, and that was what we sought, nameiy, the existence of Allah the Most High.

SECTION II

38. CoNcERNING ms POSITIVE QUALITIEs ("'l·!'ifatu'th­thubiltiyya), WHICH ARE EIGHT. FIRST, THE MOST mGH IS

POWERFUL (qad!r) AND FREE (mukhtar). FOR THE WORLD IS AN ORIGINATED TIDNG (muhdath), FOR IT IS A BODY (Jism) . ... t\.l.~D E\"EP.Y BODY IS I:N"SEPAP.ABLE FP.OM ORIQU1ATED THINGS,

I MEAN MOTION AND REST, BOTH OF WIDCH ARE ORIGINATED

TIDNGS, FOB BOTH REQillRE CONSEQUENCE (masbi\.qiyyaj IN REFERENCE TO SOMETHING ELSE. AND THAT WHICH IS IN­

SEPARABLE FROM ORIGINATED THINGS IS OF NECESSITY ITSELF

AN ORIG-INA'J'"En 'I'HTNO-. H'F.Nf!m ~R.F. TR A MOVF.R TN IT,

NAMELY ALLAH THE MOST IDGH, THE POWERFUL AND FREE. FoR IF TJ:I....I!.i CAUSE W-"ERE A MECHAI'ILCAL CAUSE (mftj1bj T.I:I.EN

OF NECESSITY ITS EFFECT (athar) WOULD NOT REMAIN BEffiND

IT. THEN THAT WOULD REQmRE EITHER THE PRIORITY (qidam) OF THE WORLD OR THE ORIGIN (}fudi\.th) OF ALLAH THE MOST HIGH, BOTH OF WHICH ARE FALSE.

39. 'Vhcn he fin•.,.hed pro,'lllg the essence (dha.t) he began to prove the qualities (sifat). And he placed first the pOSitive quahties, for they possess eXIstence (wuJil.d), wiuie the negative quaht~es posseBS non-eXIstence ('ada=yya). And existence ranks above non-eXIBtence, and that which ranks lughest should come fiTSt.

40. And he began with His bemg Powerful, because creation r-equir-es power (qudra). And here we n-Jl make some mtro· ductory remarks which Will include the consideratiOn of the elements of tlus discussion.

41. We say then that the Powerful and Free is He who if He wills to do anything does it, and if He wills to leave it, l.:oa.vll).~:~. if.• A.ntl whn il.f".t.R. wit.h nn'l'nnRA fnta.M\ A.ntl Will {,,.~_rlA.\ ·--·--a~,-- ---- ---- -·--- r-.r--- \'1-.-, --- ··- ,---,.

And a mechamcal cause is the opposite. There are several diiierences between them-that 15, between the iree agent (mukhtar) and the mechanical cause (miijib). (I) Fast, the

15

16 AL-BABU 'L.IJADi 'ASHAR

free agent is able to act or cease from acting, while the mechanical cause is not. (2) Second, the act of the free agent IS consequent upon knowledge and purpose and Will, while the mechamcal cause 1s not. (3) It 1s poss1ble for the act of the free agent to follow 1t ill tnne, whJle the act of a illechamcal cause cannot be separated from 1t, as (for example) the sun's gJVillg hght and fire's burnillg.

42 And the wrwld ('iilam) 1s all that e:>osts bes1des Allah the Most Hlgh. And an Cfl"t1J<nated Ut-<rtg (muhdath) 1s that which IS consequent upon somethillg else or upon non-exJBtence {'adn--). ""\.nd a prwr tktng (qadim) xs the opposite of tlus. And body (J!Sm) IS that bounded thillg (mutahayy1z) whiCh rece1ves diVJsJOn m three duectJOns And hay!f'z and m<~kt:in are one smgle thmg, namely, an 1magmary measure of space (faragh) wluch bodies occupy by commg mto 1t And motum 1s the commg of a body mt<> a place after bemg m another place. And rest IB the second comillg mto one place.

43 Now that th1s has been explamed, I say that smce the world 1s a thmg ongmated, there 1s m 1t a mover, namely, Allah the Most High, the Powerful and Free. And (I have made) here two chums (1) the first, that the world !8 an origin­ated thmg, and (2) the second, that Its Creator must possess free will (ikhtJYiir) In explanation or tne nrst claim, ll say that) by wrwld (al-'alam) the scholastw theologJBns mean the heavens and the earth and what 1s ill them and what 1s be­tween them, stnd that 1s mther bodw.s (a.Jsft.m_) or 9_.('.('¥lents (a'ra.;l), both of wluch are or1gmated (a) As for bodies, they cannot be qmt oi motion and rest, both oi which are ongmated tlungs, and all that cannot be qwt of an ongillated thmg 1s 1tself an ongmated thmg. Now a body cannot be qwt of mot.IOn ,q,n_d rP.At,~ beea.nse evAry body m_uRt nP.~eRsa.nly have a place (makan). And smce tlus IS true, e1ther the body remt~ows m the place, wllich is .rest, or d;, l8 removed how. 1t, wluch IS motJOn-for of necessity there IB no ID!ddle ground between the two, But rest and mot10n are orJgJnated tlungs, because they are consequent upon somethmg else. And nothing pnor IS consequent upon sometlung else. Then no motlon or rest 10 pnor. Hence both axe ongmated ~o,

ALLAH'S POSITrv~ QUALITIES 17

for there. 18 no n:nddle gronnd between a thmg p!'lO!' and -a thing origmated. And mot10n and rest are both consequent upon somethmg else, because wutwn means the first oonnng (hllf!Ul) mto the second place, hence of necessity It IS con­sequent upon a first place. And rest means the second commg mto the first place, hence of necessity It Is consequent upon n first commg. And all that whwh cannot be qmt of ongmated th.mgs iS rtself an ongma.ted tiling, for 1£ rt 10 not an ongm.ated thmg then It IS a prwr thmg. And m this case either It has With It m pnonty somethmg that IS ongmated, or It has not If It has, then pnonty and ongmat10n would have to be uruted m one thmg at the same time, and that cannot be ~.o\nd If It has not, then. that which has been known. of necesSity, namely, the tmposstbthty of the separatiOn of Origlllated thmgs from It, would have to be false, and that cannot be.

44 (b) And accidents are originated because they need hOOJP.R fnr t.hetT P.XJRtsncA, and that whwh nP.P.dR a,n or1gmated

thmg IS even more Itself an origmated thmg. 45. (2) Al1d 111 ex-_planatwn of the 8econd clarm, (I say that)

an ongmated thmg, when Its qmddity (mah1yya) IS quabfied at one time by non-existence and later by eXIstence, IS possible existence Then 1t needs a mover. If that (mover) be a free agent, then that was what we sought. And If It be a mechamcal cause, then 1ts effect (a.thar) cannot folhnv 1t m tnne. Hence Its effect must be pnor. But 1t had been proved th11t 1t 1s ongmated. .tience Its mover must aiso be ongmated, ior they are mutually necessary-and both thmgs are Impossible. For It has been demonstrated that If Allah the Most High be a mechamca! cause, t.here follows of neee88lty e1ther the pnonty of the world or the origm of .AILl.h the Most High, both of which are untl'ue. Hence 1t lB proved that the Most High is Powerful and Free, which IS what we sought.

46. AND IDS POWEll IS CONNECTED (yata'allaqu) WITH

ALL DETEE...'Vl:L.~ED THU1GS (al-ma.qd\L.-Qt). FoB TIIE CAUSE

WHICH MAKES THEM NEED IDS POWEll IS POSSiliiLITY, AND 2

18 AL-BABU 'L-ij:!Dl 'ASHAR

THE RELATION OF HIS ESSENCE TO ALL THINGS I8 EQUAL.

HENCE HIS POWER IS UNIVERSAL.

[Determined things are possible existence. The re· latwn of His essence to all possible existence ia equal. Therefore His power extends equally to all determined tlungs-that is, It IS umversal.]

47. When he had proved bnefly that the Most High ia Powerful, he began to explam the universahty of HIS Power. And the philosophers (hukama) have diSputed about it, when they satd that He IS One (wah1d) and there proceeds from Him nothmg but what IS one. And the ThanaW!yya thought that He did not have power to do eVIl (ash-sharr.) And an­Nazzdm• held that He did not have power to do what was evil (al-qabih). And al-Balkhi denied HIS power over things hke those winch are in our power. And the J ubbil'iyya held It =possible for His power to extend to those very thmgs whwh are m our power. And reahty (al-haqq) IB opposed to all of these

48. And the proof for our contention IS that every hindrance Ill relatiOn to HIS essence and m relatiOn to what IS determmed (maqdilr) has been removed Hence the umversal connectiOn (ta'alluq) of HJ.s power IS necessary. (That IS, neither m Allah nor m the thing detennmed IS there any hmdrance­hence Hts power extends to all.)

49. Now the exposition of the first statement (of the text) ia that whwh necessitates His bemg Powerful m His essence. And the relatiOnship (nisba) of HIS essence to all thmgs IS equal, because of Its umqueness (taJarrud). Hence that whwh IB necesB!tated by it (namely, HJ.s Power) IB also equally related, which is what we sought.

50. And the second statement IS true, because that which necessitates a thing's bemg detennmed (maqdilr) is 1ts possibility. And possibility partakes of everything (all creation is one in possessing possibihty). Hence it ia sound (""") for detenninatJ.on also to become a partaker in possible existences, which ia what we sought. And when all hindrance in relation to the Powerful and m relation to what is deter-

ALL!irS POSiTIVE QUALITJ.ES lU

mined is removed, then its universal eonnect1on is neeessa..-..y, which is what we sought.

[Allah is Powerful (qadir), and H1s power extends to all existence provided that neither ill the qdil·;..r nor in the maqd4r is there any lundrance. For instance, Allah IS able to create a partner, but m this case there IS a Jundrance, for a partner to Allah IS mca.pable of rece1vmg eXIstence]

And know that the occurrence of everything connected with !tls Power is not necessary. Although lfe has power over everythmg, only some of the tlungs over which He ha.s power actually occur. And the Ash 'antes agree With us in the umversahty of the connectiOn (of His Power), but they cla!Ul that what He has power over always occurs, as Will be explamed later, rl ~4llah wills.

01. OECOND, THE MOST HIGH IS KNOWING C8.hm) .1'-0R HE

PERFORMS ACTIONS WHICH ARE FffiM (muhkam) AND PERFECT

(mutqan), AND EVERYONE WHO DOES THAT IS OF NECESSITY

KNOWING.

o2. Among the number of HIS positive quahtieS IS His bemg Knowmg. And The Knowing One 1s He to whom aU tlungs are clear m such a way that what is present to H1m does not become a.bsent.

53, _And._ a FIRM AND PERFECT ACT lS that wh1ch. mclude.S matters strange and wonderful and umtes many charac­tenstiCs.

04. And there are two proofs that He IS knowmg: (I) FirSt, He IS a free agent, and every free agent is knoWing. The minor premise (that He IS a. free ag~nt) was explained above. And as for the maJor premise, (know that) the act of a free &gent follow!!! his purpose, and to purpose a thing w 1thout having knowledge of it is impossible. (2) Second, He has performed firm and perfect acts, and everyone who does the like is knowing of necessity. Now that He performs auoh acts is mamfest to whoever considers H1s creation: the heavenly bodies, on whose movements the c~-actet~.r.eb

of the four seasons are a...'"Tsnged, as is e-.l"'lained m the sciences; and the things on the earth, in whiCh there appears the wisdom revealed in the three kmgdoms (murak­kabat,-mmeral, vegetable, and anunal), and m the strange thmgs which are embraced by them, and m the wonderful cha...~cteristics whiCh they possess. ..4..n.d 1£ there were nothmg else besides the formmg of man, certamly the WISdom deposited in his creation and the orderimess oi h1s formatiOn and his senses and the benefits which depend on them would be sufficient (to demonstrate the perfection of Allah's acts), as IS !nd.ICated !!1 the word. of A!!S.h, " Ha. ve they not con­sidered within themselves that Allah hath not created the Heavens and the Earth and aii that IS between them . . . '" (30: 7). And among the wonders depOSited m man's con­stitution IS tlns, that every one of his members has four powers, t.hat o£ attrachon (J2.Ah,ba), retentwn (m!!.s11ra ), d1gestwn (hil.dmm), and excretiOn (dafi'a). As for attractiOn, amce the body IS constantly undergoing diSsolutiOn It needs the power of attractiOn that It may attract that wlnch will replace·what has dissolved from It. And It needs the power of rete.ntiOn; becaMe t.he food whiCh 1s ta.ken m 1s shppe:ry {l8ZIJ), and the organ IS also shppery. Hence It must have the power oi retentiOn vnali wgestmn may liaKe place And the power of rugestiOn IS needed, because It changes the food mto what is fitted to become part of the body of the eater. And excret.ion is the thTowmg off of t.he foo(l_ whwh wa~ 1n exeess of what was rugested, wlnch was prepared because of another member. And everyone who periol'IllB actwna willuh are firm and perfect is knrnmng, for th1s IS self-evident to one who 11nderstsnds these matters and considers them.

55 . .AND HIS KNOWLEDGE IS CONNECTED WITH EVERY KNOWN

THING (ma'ifun), BECAUSE 011 THE EQUALITY OF THE BELA·

TIONSBil' OF ALL KNOWN THINGS TO HIM. FOR HE IB LIVING

(Jp.yy), AND rr IS l'ROl'ER THAT EVERY LIVING ONE SHOULD

FOR HDI, BECAUSE OF THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF HIS BEING IN

NEED OF ANOTI!ER.

ALLA.ii:s POSITIVE QUALITIES 2i

56. The Most High Creat-or Ynows e-verything t"hat can properly be known, whether necessary or possible, pnor or ongmaied. This IB contrary to the ph1iosophers, m that they have demed that He has knowledge of parts (al-Juz'Iyyat) as parts (He knows them as a whole, not as parts), because change in them would neceSSltate change m the knowledge whwh resides m His essence. We reply that what changes 18 the relative connectiOn, not the essential knowledge. And the proof of our positiOn IS that It IS proper for Hnn to know every known thmg-therefore tlus (knowledge) IS necessary for !f1m And 1t 19 proper for Him to know every known thmg because He IS LJ.vmg, and everyone that lives can properly know (a dead thmg cannot know, knowledge bemg a property of life). And the relatiOnship of th1s propnety (for hun to know all thmgs) to all that IS apart from Htm IS an equal rela.t.1onsh1p (that 1s, 1t IS equally proper that He. l<_now all thmgs). Hence the relatiOn of all known thmgs to Him IS also equal And the proof that whenever a th.mg IB proper for the Most High, 1t IS also necessary for Him IS this H1s qualttws belong to H1s essence (dhatiyya), and when a quahty which hP.longs t.o t.hA P.Ssence JR :rn·opP.r 1t IR a.lso neP-eSRal'y,

otherwiSe He would have need of sometlung else, m that His eBBence wa.s quahfieU 1y t~Uill!jLhiug oLher Lh.an He, Then th!j Most H1gh Creator, as regards HIS knowledge, would be m need of somethmg else, and that IS tmpossible. (In both man a.ml f1rnil knowledge IS proper (sahth): but wh1le m man It IS possible (mumkm), m God It IS necessary (wi\Jrb), for belong· 1ng to Hit~ ~~~uoo 1L cannot be pos81ble )

57. THIRD, THE MOST HIGH IS LIVING (hayy), BECAUSE HE IS

POWERFUL AND KNOWING-HENCE OF NECESSITY HE IS LIVING.

58. Among H1s positive qualities IS His bemg Lrvmg. And the philosophers and AbU'l-F.fasan al-Ba~rl say that H1s hfe means the propriety (~Ihha) of His bemg quahfied by power and knowledge And the Ash'anies say that Lrfe 1s a quahty m excess (za'1d) of Hts essence, as c:hstmct from tlus propnety (as held by al-Ba~ri). And the first (the oplllion of al-Ba,r!) IS reahty, for the root of the matter iS its not bemg m excess. a

l1 nd 1t he.s been proved that the Most High Creator re Power­ful and Knowing, hence of necesBity He IS Living, which is what we sought. C!'nat is, Llle IS the essence Itselt, and so also are Knowledge and Power.)

59. FOURTH, THE MOST HIGH IS A Vl!LLEP. (mu......J:d) A..llffi A

DIBLIKER (kil.nh), BECAUSE THE SPECIALIZING (takhsi~) OF THE

PERFORMANCE OF ACTS TO ONE TIME AND NOT TO ANOTHER

REQUIRES THAT THERE BE A SPECIALIZE& (mukhaSBIB), AND

THAT IS WILL (al-mida), AND BECAUSE THE MOST IDGH COM·

MA....l'i!"DS AND PRO!!!B!TS, AND THESE THINGS REQUIRE OF NECES-

SITY WILL AND DISLIKE.

60. Now ail l>Iusinns are agreed that He has the quahty Will, but they d1fler as to 1ts meamng. Abfr'l-l:fasan al-Basri sa~d that It meant Allah's knowmg what advantage (maslaha) !8 1n a.n act, fll,s fll" mot.1ve. for 1t.s pe-rformance (that !S, when Allah knows that a certam act IS advantageous, then that knowledge 1s unll, and becomes the motive for Its performance). And al-Bukhaxi sa1d that 1ts meamng IS that Allah 1s not overcome (maghlub) and '" not forced (mukrah) Th1s meanmg he.re. 1s nega.t.1ve, a.nd t.h.e. speaker (a.I-Bul<Julrl) has taken m pliWe of W11l that whwh makes Will necessary

61. And al-Balkhl aa1d that m Allah's acts 'wzll means H1a knowledge of them, and m the acts of others 1t means H1s commandmg them Now we reply, If he means by w.Zl a.bsolut.P. knowlP.dw~, thrm_ tha_.t 11'1 not wt11, as sh8 .. 1l appe~:r 1~.tP.r. And 1f he means knowledge whiCh 1s confined to advantage (that IB, th~ knowledge uf tho~:~e thwg~ whu:h Allo1lt ~:~ee~ an:~

advantageous), then that 1s like what al-Basri sa1d And H1s commandmg It mdeed reqmres will, but 1t IS not will

62. And the Ash'antes and Karrarmtes• and a group of Mu'taz1htes say that WilliS a quahty m excess of the essence, wh.u:::h 18 separate from Power and Knowledge, and belongs espeemlly to His act. But then they diSagreed among them­selves-the Ash'ar1tes say that thiS bemg m excess lB a prior 1dea (ma'na); and the Mu'taz1htes and Karram1tes say that 1t 1s an ongmated 1dca. And the Karraxmtes say that 1t mheres (qti.'n:n) m His essence (as acc1dents mh.ere 1n a sub~wmce),

ALLAR'S POSITIVE QUALI'l'!EIS 23

and the Muttaz1htcs say it is not in a locus (mahall), (that IS, it does not so inhere, for All8.h' s essence 18 not a place m which quaiitJ.es can where). And the fallacy of this doctrme of excess will soon appear. And what ai-Basri B8ld IS reality, for two reasons.

63. (1) FirSt, the specio.hzmg m the perform.a.nce of acts at one tmte and not at another, and m one way and not m another, m spite of the equahty of times and states m relatiOn to the Doer and the reCipient, necessarily reqmres a spemfier (mukha!'l1~) And tlus speclfier 1s either (a) the Power which remdes 1n the essence, wh1ch re equally related to all things, and therefore cannot properly spemahze-and, moreover, It• fnnct10n IS movmg (ta'thlr) and performmg (i]ad), not pre_ fernng (tar]ih), (b) or else 1t IS absolute knowledge-but that Is consequent upon the appomtment of the possible and the decree of 1ts lSslll!lg. Hence 1t lS not the spec1a.hzer, otherwise 1t would certamly precede, and that 1s not possible. And It IS clear that the remammg qualities cannot properly spemahze. Hence the spemahzer IS a spemal kmd of knowledge (namely, knowledge o± what 1s advantageous) whwh necesSltates the appomtment of the poss1ble and the neces£nty of 1ts IS9mng from Hmt. That IS, It is knowledge that the possible con tams an advantage whwh cannot be acqrured except at that t1me and m that maffiler And that spemahzer IS W.Zl.•

64. (2} Second, the Most H1gh commanded m H1s word, ,, Estabh~h the wor~h1p " ; and He proh1b1t.ed 1n fh:;~. word, "Do not draw near to adultery." And command of a thmg reqmres of necessity the wlllmg of It, and prohibition of a thmg :reqmres of necessity the illshke for 1t. Hence the Most Htgh Creator 1s a Willer and a Disiiker, whiCh 1s what we. sought.

65. Now there are here two matters of Importance (1) Frrst, Ills dnili.ki.ug 1~ Hts kuuwleclg~ that an act coutam~ a c~:.uu~~ uf corruptiOn (mafsada) which deters Hmt from performmg 1t, JUSt as w1ll1S Hts knowledge that the act contams advantage whmh 1s the mot1ve (da'1ya) for Its performance. (2) Second, Will IS not m excess of that wluch we mentiOned (It lB the easeuce 1tself, not w excess of the eSBence), othe.L·wise it would

be either a prior Idea (ma'nQ), as the Ash'antes say, In which case the plurahty of pnor thmgs would be necessary; or else an OrJgillllted thing. Ii the latter, then either (a) it wouid be a quality mhermg m His essence, as the Karrihmtes say, and He would be a locus for or1gmated thmgs-and that is false as shall appear later, If ... lliah wlll.e; or (b), 1t would be a quahty of somethmg else, and then 1t would be necessary for His command (i;mkm) to be reierred to someone else, and not to HliD. And Will IS not m a place, as the Mu'tazilltes say. For there are two errors m this First, It necessitates an endless cham, because an orlgl..n.ated thmg 1s consequent upon the W!ll of the origmator. Then m that case Will would be an origmated thmg Then Ii we move the discussion back a step 1t becomes a cham. Second, the Impossibihty of a quahty's eXIstmg outside of a place.

66. FIFTH, THE MOST HIGH IS A PERCEIVER (mudnk), BE­

CAUSE HE IS LIVING, AND IT IS THEREFORE PROPER JmR HIM TO

PERCEIVE. AND THE KORAN HAS COME IN TO PROVE IT FOR

RIM, HENCE IT IS INCL"MBE!-lT TIIAT IT DE CONFIRl'd:ED (1thbfi.t) (by US by reason) TO JlELONG TO HIM.

67. By traditiOnal proois It has been demonstrated that the Most High has PerceptiOn (ulrak). And PerceptiOn IS (somethmg) additiOnal to Knowledge For we find a difference between our .l..nowledge of black: n.nd wh1te and a terrr£ymg sound and a pleasant one, and our perceptwn of these thmgs And this additiOn rs due to the 1IDpresswn (ta'thir) oi the senses. However, ratiOnal proofs lead ns to beheve that senses and organs are Impossible for the Most High, and there­fore th!s add1tmn 1s unposs1ble for Hnu Hence 1n this case His PerceptiOn ts His Knowledge of obJects of perceptwn (mudrakatj •

68 And the proof that 1t IS proper for Him to have the qnahty of Percephon IS the same as that by winch we proved that He ltnows all lrnown thmgs, (naTY'Iely), by !lls bemg LlVlng (see par. 56).

69, SIXTH, THE MOST HIGH IS PRIOR (qadim) AND FROM

ETEMTIY (aza.li) AND A.BIDTiiG (b&.qi) AND TO ETERNIT":x- (abadi),

AI,LAH'S POSITIVE QUALI'l'IM:S

BECAUSE HE IS THE NECESSARILY EXISTENT HENCE NON·~

EXISTENCE, BOTH PREVIOUS (sabiq) AND CONSEQUENT (Jahiq), IS FOR HIM IMPOSSIBLE,

70. These four qualities are reqmred in order that Hts eXIStence be necessary (wajib). And PRIOR IS that entity the ex:retence o£ whwh IS not denvcd from anything else .... .o\.nd FRoM ETERNITY IS the bemg related to (mUBahib) the " ascer­tamed ages " (the ages aiter creatwn-muhaqqaq) and " nnphed ages " (the ages before creatwn-mnqarrar), as regards the past. And ABIDING IS eXIStence that contmues and that 1s rela.ted to all ages ... .tnd To ETEP .. NITY 1s bemg related to all ages, either ascertamed or nnphed, as regards the future And J<;ternai (sarmaell) comprtses aii ages

71 And the proof of tlus IS that smce It has been proved that He IS Necessanly Extstent~ non-existence lS rmposstble for F1m absolutely, whether 1t be prevwus, on the suppos1t10n (taqdir) that He IS not from all eternity, or consequent, on the suppositiOn tha r, ne IS not to ali etermty And smce absolute non-exiStence IS Impossible for Him, It IS proved that He IS Prwr and From Etermty and Abidmg and To Etermty, wluch 1s what we sought_

72. St.<V.h;tlTH, T1i..l!< Mus·r .tUU..t:l 18 A SP.i:!1AK~.te. (Inutakallun), BY THE AGREEMENT OF ALL AND RY SPEECH (aJ-kaJam) IS INTENDED I~ETTERS AND SOUNDS WHICH ARE AUDIBLE AND

ORmm.T.V AND 'T'HE MF.ANTNI1 OF THF. MORT HTrm's BF.TNO A

SPEAKER IS THAT HE BRINGS SPEECH INTO EXISTENCE IN SOME SORT OF BODY {Jlt:;Iil). AND THE EXPLANATION OF THE ASH~

'ARITES IS CONTRARY TO REASON.

73. Among the quahties of the Most Htgh IS His bemg a Speaker. And ill that Muslnns have agreed, but aiter that they differ ill four poillts (maqamat) · (1) Frrst, m the way in wl:uch they prove tills quahty The Ash 'antes say it iS reason ('aql). And the Mu'tazihtes say It IS traditiOn (sam'), accord­mg to the word of the Most High, " And discoursmg dtd Allah diScourse (takallama) wtth Moses" (4. 162). And tlus is reality (that IS, the Mu'tazihte pOS!tion), because there IS no rat10nal evJ.deuce (dalil), a.nd the ev1denoe whwh they adduce

26

is not complete. Now all the prophets have ~nor....cd. m thiS (that Allah speaks). (And d one says that the very fact that there are prophets IB a rationai proof that Allah speaks-for how could they speak unless He first spoke to them ~-we reply) that the proof of theu being prophets is not dependent on tlus (t.hat 1s, !Us Speakmg), because 1t 18 posSible to attest (the valuhty of the nussion of) the prophets apart from Speech, ior It IB rather dependent on IDIXacies, otherwise a mrcie wouid have to follow. (That IB, the prophet says that Allah IS a Speaker, but the truth of hJB be~g a prophet depends on A.na.h 's bemg a Speaker ) Hence 1t 1s mcumbent to prove (Ithbfit) It for Him. For It IS posSJble to deduce (IstidloJ) the truth of prophecy from nuracies apart from the Koran, or e!Be from the Koran considered not as Speech but as a IDIXacle. And undoubtedly there IB a disagree,;.ent (taghayur) about mn·aeles Hence 1t 1S necessary to prove (by trad!.tlOn that Allah IS a Speaker)

7 4 (2) As to the qruddlty (malnyya) of HIB Speech. Tne Ash'arites thought It was a pnor Idea (ma'na) Iulierent m His essence winch 1s expressed m variOus tenns ('Ibarat) and lB diBtmet from Knowledge and Power Henc-e 1t 1s ne1ther letters nor sounds nor commands nor prohtbttions nor narra­tive nor mterrogatwn nor any other such form oi speech a

75. And the l'!Iu'tazthtes and Karranutes and J:lanbahtes say 1t IS letters and sounds compounded ill such a way as to express ROmAt.hmg a And t.hJ.s 19 :re~ .. hty, for t.wo :Ma.Mns _ (a) First, that whiCh takes precedence (al-mutab:l.du) ill the opuuo.u of mklhgent people lB what we have rnent10ned (namely, that l.aW.m IS speech), because they do not attnbute the quahty of speech to one who does not possess that quahty, such as one who lB silent or dumb. (Sper.ch mP.an~ Rpeakmg, not merely havmg Ideas m one's mmd, as the Ash'antes say) (b) Second, what they have swd Cilll.llot be concelved (ghay.n1 muta'!3wwar). For that whwh they conceived 1s e1ther essenttal Power from wluch proceed letters and sounds, and they have sru.d that Speech IS other than that-nor can the other quahttes properly be the source of what they have sru.d. And whe:uever a thmg ca.ru1ot be conceived 1t carwot be

ALLAH'S POSITIVE QUALITIES 27

properly proved, for attcs+...atwn (~lq) lS consequent upon conception (ta'!Qwwur).

76. (3) Third, as to that m which the quality Speech inheres. The Ash'a.ntes, because of their doctrine that It "' an Idea (ma'ni),8 say that 1t mherea m His essence. And those who say that it is letters and sounds have drffered among themselves. The I.Ianbahtes and Karrrurutes say that 1t Inheres m His essence, so accordmg to them He speaks With letters and sounds. And the Mu'taz1htes and Imawtes say (and this 1s reality) that it IB mherent m somethmg else, not m !Us essence-as when He made speech to ex.1st (awJad.a) m the bush, and Moses heard It And the meanmg of His bemg a Speaker IS thai He makes Speech, not that He IS one m whom Speech 1nheres.• And the proof of that IS that Speech IB a posstble thmg, and God Most H1gh has power over all pos.suble eXIstences.

77. And what we mentiOned (namely, the Ash'ante doc­tnne) 1s to be reJected, ior two reasons (sanadj (aj Frrst, Ii a speaker be that m whwh speech mheres, then the air m whwh letters and sounds mhere would be a speaker, and that IS not true_ For the. leJncographers do not. eall anythmg a speak.er except that which makes speech, not that m whwh speech mheres, and m this way vowe ( a!}-sadU.) 18 something other than a speaker And they say that a jlnnl speaks through ('alii) the tongue of an epileptic, because they beheve that the maker (£3 .. '11) of the speech t.ha_.t JS heal"d fl'om the epJlAptlC ~~

the Jmnl 78. (b) Seuuml, Speech 11:3 e1ther au 1Ue~ (rna'nd)-awl tho

fallacy of thts has been proved, or tt IS letters and sounds­and tt ts not posstble for them to mhere m Hts essence, for then He would become the possessor of senses~ because the existence of letters and sounds necessarily depends on the ~JU.i:'Jt~nc~ of then: mstruillents. Then the Most Iligh Creator would become the possessor of senses, and that IS false.

79. (4) Fourth, as to the pnonty or ongin of Speech. Now the Ash'a.ntes said that the Idea was pnor. And the l;lanbahtes said that the letters were pnor. And the Mu.'tazilites sa1d that S~ech was an origmated thmg, and

that is the reahty, for several reasons: (a) First, if 1t were priOr, then a plurahty of pnor thmgs would be necessa.y, and that IS faise, for the calling anything besides Aliilh prior IS mfidehty (kulr) by the agreement of all • Hence the Christians are gmity of mfidehty m affirmmg the pnor!ty of the PereoM (a!-uqnfim). (b) Second, 1t 1s com­pounded of letters and sounds whwh become non-existent when succeeded by others. And non·eXIBtence IS not poss1bie for a pnor thmg (c) Third, If It were pnor then It would necessarily follow that Allah hes. But that whwh IS necessi­tatOO JR false (mt.mely, A11ii.h'.s 1ymg); hen(".e t.hat. whiCh nnr-AAAl­

tated It (kalam's bemg pnor) IS false also And the proof of tllia nece.s8rty (oi Hu; berng a hat) 18 that He ullorn1eU us of H1s sendmg Noah from eternity (fi'l-azal), by the word of the Most High, "We sent Noah to his people" (71 1) And He d1d not send h1m !rom etermty, smce there IS nothmg prevwus to etermty (If the word of Allah was from etermty, then Noah must have been sent before etermty ') Hence 1t would be a he

80 (d) lfourth, If It were pnor, then H1s word would be nonsense ('abath), m the word of the Most High, "Observe prayer and pay the legal1mpost " (22 78), because m eternity there was no rnukallaf Now nonsense 1s evil (qa.bih)~ hence 1t IS IIllpossible for the Most H~gh (j) F1fth, the wort! of the Most High, " Every fresh (muhdath) warmng that cometh to them from therr Lord they only hear to mock 1t" (21 z) And 1mrmng (dh1kr) IS the Koran, because o£ the word o£ the Most H1gh, "Venly we have sent down the wa.rnmg (aflh­dh!ln), and venly we will be Jts guardian '' (15 9), " For truly to thee and to thy people 1t IS an admorutton (dillkr) '' (43. 43) And He has attnbuted to 1t the quahty o£ or1gm (huduth), hence 1t JS not pnor. And the word o£ the author and the sta.t.AmAnt that the Ash'ar1tes are not to be .acceptf. .. d refer to what we have mentwned m these places.

81. EIGHTH, THE MOST HIGH IS VERACIOUS (samq). FoR

A I.IE (al-k1dhb) IS OF NECESSITY EVIL (qabih) ANn AT,LAH THF.

MOST HIGH IS FAR REMOVED FROM EVIL, BECAUSE IT IS IMPOS­

SIBLE FOR Hili TO HA:VE .• u.n- IMPERFECTION (naq~).

ALLAH'S POStTtVE QUALITIES 29

82 .. Among Hre pomtlve qualities 1s His be~l'lg Veracious. And verac1ty lB a report that corresponds to reahty, and a he lB a report that does not so correspond. Because ii He were not Veramous He would be a har, and that IS false; for a he lB of necesSity ev1l, and it would be necessary for the Most 'R'1gh Creator to be qua!i~ed by what is eVIl, and that IS false. because of what shall later appear. And a he IS an lmper­iection, and the Most High Creator 1s far removed £rom 1m· perfectwn.

SEW'ION ill

83. CONCERNING Hl~ PRIVATIV.I!l (salbiyya.j QUALITIES,

WHICH ARE SEVEN. FIRST, THE MOST HIGH IS N01' OOM·

POUNDED (murakkab), OTHERWISE HE WOULD BE IN NEED OP

MRM"R'R.RS 1 A'Nn THAT WRTC'R' TA TN NliJJiln (mu_fta.qifo) IS POART'RT .. 'E

(existence) 84. V{heu h~ finished the positive qualities he began on

tbe privative ones The first (the positive) are called tbe quahttes of perfectiOn (kam!H), and tbe second the quahttes of glory (jalal) And if you Will, all the quahties may be quahttes of glory. For the affirmation of His Power means the negatiOn (salb) of 1m.potence ('ajz) in Ilim, and the affum.a· twn of knowledge means tbe negation of ignorance m Htm, and hkewtse for the other quahttes. And m truth what can be understood by our reason (al-ma'qiU lana) of His quahttes 18 nothing but negatwn (suliib) and relatwnslups (1dafat). And the lm11t (Jn:mh) of H1a e55ence and quaht1es is ve1led from the consideratiOn (nazar) of reason ('uqill). And no one knows what He ts but He Htmself

85. Now tbe author mentiOned here seven quahties. The first is that He is not compounded. And a compounded thtng 15 one whwh has parts And. the opposite of compounded m single (basit), and it 1s what does not have parts. And com­position (tarklb) 18 sometimes objective, as the compoSitiOn m bodies of atoms (Jawahir) and acCidents (a'rad); and some­times it IS mental {dhthn!), as the composition of qmd<hty (mB.hlyya.) and linnts (hudUd), hke the compoBltion of g-'cll&-a

(ajnas) and spemes (fu~iil). And a compounded thmg m both senses is in need of 1ts parts, because it is impoBSible for 1t, objectively or Slfbjectively, to be realized and distinguished Without 1ts parts. And Its parts are other than it, because the part can be ooparatcd from it. ...\nd the pan~ 13 not called tbe whole. And that from which a thing can be separated 18

80

ALLAH'S PRIVATIVE QUALI'l'IES 31

distinct from it. Then a compounded thing is m need. of something else, hence It is po88Ible (eXIstence). Therefore, if the Most Exalted Creator were compounded He would be possible (existence), and that cannot be.

86. SECOND, HE IB NOT A BODY (JISm), NOR AN ACCIDENT ('arad), NOR AN ATOM (JaWhar), OTHERWISE HE WOULD HAVE NEED OF A PLACE (al-makRn), RECAIH~E IT 18 IMPOSSIBLE FOR

BODY TO BE SEPARATED FROM ORIGINATED THL'iJGS THEN HE WOULD BE AN ORIGINATED THING, AND THAT IS iMPOSSIBLE

87. The Most High Creator IS not a body, contrary to the Anthropomorphists (mnJasSima) And BODY 1s that which has length and breadth and depth And ACCIDENT IS that whwh ahghts (al-hi\11) m a body and has no exiStence Without it And the pr-oof that the Most H1gh 18 not an acCident or a. body IS of two kmds · (1) First, If He were one of these two He would be pOBBible eXIstence But this necess1ty 1s false, hence that which necessitates 1t IS false also And for the explana­tiOn of th1s necessity-we know of neceBBity (b1d-darura) that eYh y body needs a place, and every acmdent needs a locus (mahall) And place and locus are other than body and acCident Hence they are m need of somethmg other than themselves. And that whwh needs something else IS the possible. Hence 1f the Most Htgh Creator were a body or an a.cc1dent He would be pos.:nble eXIstence. (2) Second, 1f He were a body He would be an or1gmated thmg, and that is rmpossible. And m explanation of this, no body can be quit of ongmated things And that whwh cannot be quit of origmated thmgs IS itself an ongmated thing, as we have pravmusly cxplamed Hence, 1£ He were a body He would be an ongmated thmg But He IS prwr. Then contra­diCtories would have to agree, and that IS 1mpo881ble.

88. AND IT I8 NOT POSSIBLE THAT HE BE IN A PLACE (lliaki\:n), FOR HE WOULD THEN HAVE NEED OF IT, NOR IN A. DIREOTION,

FOR HE WOULD THEN HAVE NEED OF IT.

89. And these two quahties are negat1ve. (1) The first is that He IS not m a place, contrary to the Christums and some of the 9Ulis. And what is ooderstood by inca..u.a.tiou \1iu1Ul-

AL-B!BU 'L-.I):!Dl 'ASHAR

a.hghtmg) is the mhermg {qiy&m) of one entity (mawjuli) in another entity m successiOn. And u they mtend this meaning, then it IS false For then the Necessary would have to be m need, and that cannot be. And If they intend some other meanmg, then first of all we would have to conceive It, and afterwards paBB judgment on It, either rejectmg It or affirmmg It

90. (2) Second, He IS not m a drrectwn (Jiha) And direc­tiOn IS the goal (maq~ad) of a movmg object, and IS connected w1th the world of sense. And the Karrihmtes thonght that He was m the drrectlon of heaven (fawqiyya), and they supposed this from the hteral meanmg of a text (naql), and that IS false Because, if He be ill a drrectwn, then e1ther He does not need 1t, in whiCh case He will not ahght m 1t, or else He does need 1t, m wluch case He would be the possible And the hteral trad!twnal meamng possesses mterpretat10ns (ta'wilat) and bearmgs (mahamil) whiCh are mentwned m their proper place For SlllCC corporeality (jiBmiyya) and what follows from It has on ratwnal grounds been proved Impossible for Him, then either (a) another mterpretatwn IS necessary­for It IS Iillpossible to use both (traditiOn and reason), other­wise contrad!ctones would have to agree, or (b) both mUBt be rejected, ill whiCh case both of the contradwtones would have to be removed (a logical IillposSibihty), or (c) trad!t10n must be UBed and reason reJected, m whmh case reason also would have to be rejected, because of the rejectton of Its foundatwn (Reason JB fundamental (as!), tradition JB consequent (far')­u the former JB rejected the latter JB =poSSible ) So (d) the fourth possibility remams, namely, the use of reason and the mterpretatwn of traditiOn.

91. ANn PLEASURE (al-Jadhdha) AND PAIN (al-alam) ARE NOT

VALID FOR HIM, BECAUSE IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE MOST HIGH

TO HAVE A PHYSICAL CONSTITUTION (n:uzaj)-92. Pam and pleasure are thmgs that we perceive internally

(wijdani), hence they do not need explanatwn. And It has been Bald of them that pleasure IS the perceptwn of what IS agreeable w1th regard to Its bemg (mm l)ayth) agreeable, and

ALLAH'S PRIVATIVE QUALITIES 33

pain is the perception of what IB ilisa.greeable (munafi) with regard to 1ts being disagreeable. Aild pleasure and pain may be mther sensuous or mental. If the perceptiOn IS by tho senses they are sensuous, and If it is by the mind they are mental. Smce th1s IS determmed, we say that pain IS inl­possible for the Most ffigh, as all reasonable bemgs agree, smce He Is subJect to nothmg that is dJBagreeable (muniUI-· contrary to H1s nature). And pleasure, 1f 1t be SeiiSuous, IS

hkeWJSe Impossible for H:tm, because 1t results from havmg a phySical constitution, and a physical constitutiOn lB nnpoSSlble for Hnn, othel'Wlse He would be a body. And 1f 1t be mental, the plulosophers have affirmed 1t for Hnn, also the founder of the Ya'qub1gga (sect)' from among us For the Most High Creator IS quahfted by H:ts perfectiOn, whwh IS worthy of Hnn, for 1t IS nnpoSSlble for H1m to have any ImperfectiOn, Never­theless, He percmves by RIB essence and RIB perfectiOn. Henoe He 1s the Most Glorious Perceiver and the Most Exalted Per­ceiver by the most complete perceptiOn, and by pleasure we mean nothmg other than that.

93. But the scholastiC theologians have restncted therr stat&nents to the denml of pleasure to Allah, either because of their behef that mental pleasure (also IS) demed to Allah, or because of 1ts not havmg been mentiOned m the MaJestic Law. For the quahtws of Allah and H1s names are restncted, and 1t IS not penrussible for any but Hnn to venture mto them, cxoept With H:ts penmss10n. And even If pleasure IS

poss1ble for Allah from the pomt of v1ew of (human) reason, yet 1t IS not pohte (to attnbute 1t to Hnn), because It may perhaps be nnposs1ble (for Hnn) for some reason or other whmh we do not know.

94:. NOR DOES HE UNITE WITH OTHER THAN HIMSELF, BE~

CAUSE UNION (al-Jtt!hit.d) IS ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE FOB HIM

95. Unum lllaY be used m two senses, figurative and real. (1) Figurative umon IS one thing's becommg another thing m bemg (al-kawn) or mcorrupt10n (al-fasad). (For an example

1 The tra.nela.tor had wntten "the author of 'Ya.'qdt,'" whlch I have corrected by con]eoture. 1\.A.N.

3

34 AL BABU 'L.J;iADl 'ASHAR

of being-water becomes mist; of corruption-seed in the ground dies and becomes a new plant.) Etther (a) there lS no additiOn (i.;lafa) of another thing, as their saying that water becomes air and air becomes water; or (b) there lS an addi­tion of somethmg else, as 1t ts satd that dJ.rt becomes mud by the addition of water to it. (2) And real uruon is when two entltlCs become one entity.

96. Smce that is determined, know that the first Is alto. gether unpossible for the Most High, because created being (al-kawn) and corruption are tmposstble for Hun. And as for the second, some Christians say that He has united with ChrlSt, for they say that the divinity (lithiltiyya) of the Creator has uruted With the humaruty (nitsuttya) of 'lsii. And the N~yya say that He has umted With 'All. And some of the ~ufis say that He has uruted w1th those who know God ('iinfin). Now, If they mean something other than what we have mentioned 1t 1s first necessary to conceive 1t, then to pass Judgment upon It. And 1f they mean what we have mentioned (namely, real uruon), then It IS altogether false, because umon lS m ttself 1mposs1ble (there 1s no such thing as real uruon). Therefore 1t IS Impossible that 1t should be proved (to occur) m anythmg else. Now 1t IS tmpoSSible, because u after the uruon of two ent1t1es they contmue to exwt, there IS no uruon, because they are two, not one, and If they become non-eXIStent together, thlS also lS not uruon, but a tlnrd entity, and 1f one of them becomes non-eXIstent and the other contmues to eXISt, tills also IS not uniOn, because non-existence cannot urute With eXIstence.

97. THIRD, THE MOST moB IS NOT A LOCUS (Ina]:talJ) FOR

ORIGINATED THINGS, BECAUSE OF THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF HIS

BEING ACTED UPON (mfi'AJ) BY ANYTHING ELSE, AND THE

IMPOSSIBILITY OF IMPERFECTION IN mM.

98. Know that there are two ways of considermg (1't1bitrAn) the quaht1es of the Most High: (1) The first of these refers to the essential Power Itself and the essential Knowledge ttself and to the other qnaht1es themselves. And (2) the second refers to the connection (ta'alluq) wh1ch these qualitieR have

AI.J..!H'S PRIVATIVE QUALITIES

with the thinga determined (muqt&\]ayat} by them, such as the control of Power over that wluch is decreed (maqdilr}, and of Knowledge over thet which is knowu. And, acoordmg to this second sense, there is no dispute about these qualities, being thmgs wluch are relative, m additiOn (to the essence), and changmg as the thmgs with which they are connected change and vary.

99. But m regard to the first sense, the Karr&mites thought that the quahties are originated thmgs and are renewed in hke manner as the things With wluch they are connected are renewed They said that He was not Powerful at first, but later became Powerful, and that He was not Knowmg, but later became Knowing. And the reahty 1s contrary to th1s. For what ts renewed m what they mentiOned IS the relative connectmn. And rl they mean that, It IS self-evtdent. Other­Wise, It IS false for two reasons: (l) Frrst, If Hts quahttes are tlungs ongmated and renewed, It would be necessary for Hrm to be acted upon and to change. But the necessity IS false, hence that whtch necessitates It IS false also. And there are two proofs of thts (a) Frrst ltls quahttes are essential, and therr change would reqmre the change of the essence and Its bemg acted upon. And (b} second, the ongm of the quahttes would necessitate the ongm of HIS abthty to be a locus for them, and that would requrre the passihihty and changeable­ness of the locus. But 1t 1s rmpcsstble for the nature (maluyya} of the Most H:tgh to be subject to change and pass1bllity. Hence Hts qualities are not ortgmated, wluch IS what we sought • (2} Second, the quahttes of the Most H:tgh are perfect quahties, because It lB rmpcssible for them to have rmperfec­tiOn. And If they were ong.nated and renewed He would not have perfectiOn. And not havtng perfection IS Imperfection -and Allah, the High, the Great, 1s exalted above that I

100. FoURTH, OCULAR VISION (ru'ya) OF THE MOST HIGH IS

IMPOSSIBLE, BECAUSE EVERYTHING WHICH CAN BE SEEN

POSSESSES DIRECTION. FoR IT IS OF NECESSITY EITHER

OPPOSITE TO ONE, OR ELSE IT IS LIKE SOMETHING OPPOSITE.

THEN HE WOULD BE A BODY, AND THAT IS Illll'OSSIBLE. ANn

36 AL-BABU 'L.Jj.A])i 'ASHAR

ll:i THE WORD OF TliE MOST HIGH (to Moses) '' THOU SHALT

NOT SEE ME " (7! I39)-AND Um IS THE ETERNAL NEGATIVE.

101. The philosophers and the Mu'tazilites• hold that the VIsion of Hnn with the eye is nnpossible, because of his bemg incorporeal (mujaiTBd.) And the Authropomorplnsts (mujas· sima} and Ka..~fum.tes hold that it IS poss1ble to sac Him w1th the eye face to face. And the Ash'antes beheve that God IS mcorporeal, and (yet) say that the VISion oi Hun IS valid," contrary to the opmion of all sane men. And some of the Ash'antes say, "By mswn we do not mean the ImpressiOn (mt1bC.') (of the obJect on the optlc ncr.re) or the 1ssmng of rays, but the state which IS acqmred from the vision of an obJect after the acqmsitiOn oi the knowledge ( '1im) oi It." And others of them say that the meanmg of the VISIOn of Hnn IS that He uncovers llimself (yankashifu) to behoVIng creatures on the Last Day hke the uncovering of a vuuble full moon. And the reahty IS that rl they mean by that a complete mam­iestatiOn (ai-kashiu't-til.mm), then that IS admitted, for on the Day of ResurrectiOn perfect knowledge (al-ma'rrla) Will become necessary (Q.arUrl). OtherwiSe It cannot be conceived except as ocular YlslOn., and that 1s false both. by reason and hadltlon.

102. (I) It IS false by reason, because rl He be VISible He must be 1n a dtrectwn, and th.ereiore be a body, which. IS faise, as has been preVIously shown For every VISible thmg IS either opposite, or IS hke somethmg oppoBite (fi hukmi'l­muqB.bll), as t.he rmage m a mirror, and that lS nee.essanly t.ru.e. And everythmg opposite or hke an opposite IS m a directiOn. Hence 1f the Most H1gh Creator be V1B1ble He must be m a directiOn, which IS false. (2) And It IS also false by traditiOn, for several reasons (a) First, when Moses asked for a VISIOn (of H 1m) he reoo1ved the answer, '' Thou shalt not see me '' (7: 139), and lan IS the eternal negative' accordmg to the le.xmographem. And tnnce Mo.ses W.d nut ti~~ Hun, certawly no one else has seen Hnn. (b) Second, m the word Allah, "No VISIOn taketh m Hnn, but He taketh mall viBlon" (6. 103) He descnbes Hnnself by denJing that eyes can perce1ve Hnn. Hence proVIng that He IS visible IS a fault. (3) Third, He made a arcat matter of then= seekmg for a. vision of Hrmaelf,

ALLAH'S PRIYA'l'lV~ QUALITIES 37

and attached blame to it, and th...~tcncd (the g-..nlty), saying, " But a greater thing than this d1d they ask of Moses I for they said, ' Show us AHah plainly i ' and for this the1r wickedness did the fire-storm lay hold on them" (4: 152). "They who look not forward to meet us say, ' If the angels be not sent down to us, or unless we behold our Lord . . . .A.h I they are proud of heart, and exceed With great excess I " (21 : 22 ).

103 FIFTH, A PARTNER (ash-sharik) IS DENIED TO HIM,

BECAUSE OF TRADITION, AND BECAUSE OF THEIR HINDERING

ONE ~lliOT!!ER (m case of a plur.ahty of dmtles), IN WHICH CASE

THE ORDERLINESS OF EXISTENCE WOULD BE DESTROYED, AND

BECAUSE HE WOULD HAVE TO BE COMPOUNDED, SINCE TWO

NECESSARIES WOULD SHARE IN BEING NECESSARILY EXISTENT, IN

WHICH CASE THERE WOULD HAVE TO BE ADISTINGUISHEB (mQ.'rz). 104 Seholagt.w t.heologums and philosophers have agreed

m denymg to the Most M!gh a partner, for several reasons: (l) Fust, the traditional proofs whiCh pomt to this, and aiso the agreement of the prophets, whwh IS here a proof, because the1r veracity does not rest on their affirmatiOn of the Umty (2) RP-coni1 1 t.he proof of t.he 8chol~v~t.m t.heologm.ns, whmh lA

called " the proof of hmdrance " And that IS taken from line word of the 1•Ioijt H1gh, " Ha.U there been In either hett. ven or earth gods beside Allah, both surely had gone to rum " (21: 22). And this means that If He had a partner, the destruc­t.wn of t.hA oN1e'l"1mess of exuttence would follow of necesstty) and that IS false In explanatwn of th1s-I£ the will of one of the two (god8) came Into COirllOOtion With the productiOn of a movmg body, then undoubtedly It IS possible for the other god to Willits rest, or 1t IS not (a) If It IS possible, then un­doubtedly either the will of both will be carried out-in which case oppoSites would have to be reconciled, or else the Will of neither of them will be earned out-ill willch case the body would have neither motiOn nor rest; or the will of (only) one of them Will be earned out, in whwh case two eVIls Will result: (a) first, preponderance (tarJih) Without any one to give preponderance, and (/3) second, the Impotence of the other (god). (b) If it is not posBlble for the other god to Wlll its rest, then 1t neoeasa.r!Jy

38 AL-BABU 'L-.ij.!Di 'ASHA!l.

follows that he is impotent. For th&-e is no hindrance except the connection of the will of that other god (with the body). But impotence on the part of gods is false, and preponderance without one to give preponderance is impossible. Hence the destruction of the orderliness of existence would be neoerea...J, and that also is impossible.

105. (3) Third, the proof of the plnlosophers and its explana­tion. 11 there be in existence a .N ecessanly jj;XIstent, then both of the gods must be possible eXIstence. For in this case they would both share m being necessanly eXIstent. And undoubt.arlly they can e1ther be dietmguJ.ehed from one another or they cannot. For 1f they cannot be distmgmsbed they do not acquire duality. And ii they can be distingmshed, it is necessary that each one of the two be compounded of that m which they are one, and that by wlnch they are d!stingmsbed. _And every co""'ponnded th!..!lg' lS po•;u;nble enstenee. Henc.e they both are po881ble eXIStences, and this was contrary (to our preDIIBel!).

106. SIXTH, IDEAS (ma'am) AND STATES (a.hwi>J) ARE DENIED

TO THE MOST !!!GH. BECAUSE IF HE WERE POWERFUL BY HIS

POWER AND KNOWING BY HIS KNOWLEDGE AND SO FORTH HE

WOULD HAVE NEED IN HIS QUALITIES OF THAT IDEA. THEN

HE WOULD BE POSSIBLE EXISTENCE, AND THAT IS OONTRARY

(to our prermses). 107. The ~_ah.'a.nte.s hold tb.a.t the Most. H1gh l!J Powerful

by His Power and Knowing by Hls Knowledge and Livrng by Hia Lrle, and so for all His other quaht1as, ~ml thH.t these are prwr ideas m add1tion to His essence and mhermg in it.' And the Bahsbamiya say that the Most High is equal to (mnsawi) any other essence, and 1s distingUished from other essences by a state (hil.la) which IS called godhood (ult1hiyya). And this state produces i..u Him. four states; being powe.r.-1-u.l, knowing, being ahve, and eX!Sting. And si<JU (1).§1) according to them is a quality belonging to an entity (mawjud), and existence (wujftd) and non-existence ('adam) do not possess this quality. And they say that the Most High Creator is Powe...-tul in rel~tiou to (bi~i'tlb&r) that state of being powa..-tal

ALLAH'S PRIVA'l'i v .l!l QUALITIES

and Knowing in relation to that state of knowing, and so for the other qualities. And the fallacy of this contention is necessary (dariiri), for a thing is either an entity or a non­entity, since there is no middle ground.

108. And the philosophers and the inveatigatora (mu~qqi­qUn) among the echo!a.stic theologians say that the Most Htgh is Powerful by His essence, and so for the other quahties. And when we say, H the essence is Knowmg and IS Powerfui," what is imagined to be an additiOn (zil/Ida) IS relative and is additwn only m the mmd, not objectively. And this is the reality in our op1nion, because U He were Powerful by !fut Power (qudra) or state of bemg powerfnl (qadmyya), and Knowing by :Ws Knowledge ('illn) or state of knowmg ('ainmyya), and so forth, then It would follow that the Necessary would have need of somethmg else m His quahties. Because these 1de.as and stat.es are d!Stmet from Hts essence absolut-ely And everything whwh IS m need of somethmg else IS possible eXIStence. And U Hts quallttes be In addrtwn to His essence, then He would be possible exiStence, wluch IS contrary to our prerruses.

109. SEVENTH, THE MOST HIGH IS SELF-SUFFICIENT (ghamyy) AND .NOT lN NEED, FOR '1'11---"E NECESSITY OF HIS EXISTENCE APART

FROM ANYTIDNG ELSE REQUIRES THAT HE BE WITHDUr NEED

OP ANYTHING ELSE, AND THAT EVERYrHING BESIDES HIM BE

TN NF.F.D OF IDM.

110. Among His negative qualities IS His bemg absolutely self-suffictent and not 111need of another, ne1ther m. Ills essence nor in His quahties. For the necessity of His existence, whwh has been established for Hnn, reqmres HIS bemg absolutely Without need as regards all thrngs beside Himself. For rl He were m need (muJ.rtaJ) He would have to want (rltaqara) someth.mg, and then He would be possible exiStence, and All&h 15 exalted above that I Rather the Creator, whose greatness IS glonous, IS Without need of anything besides Himself. And everythmg (that is) IS an emanation (rashha-­ooz•ng) amongst the eruauat10ns of His eXIStence, and a mote ( dharra.) amongst the motes in the rays of hia mnmfieo-nce.

SECTION IV

111. CONCERNING JUSTICE ('adJ), AND IN IT ARE SEVERAL SUBJECTS FOR INVESTIGATION. (1) FIRST, REASON (aJ-'aql) OP. :NECESSITY PASSES JUDCMEN'T AS TO '\VP" .... ".T ~.t..CTIONS .. '\.P..E

GOOD (hasan), SUCH AS THE RETURN OF A TRUST (fund) AND DOING GOOD (rhsan), AND VERACITY WHICH IS PROFITABLE, AND AS TO WHAT ARE EVIL (qabih), SUCH AS INJUSTICE AND AN INJURIOUS LIE FOR THOSE WHO DENY ALL SYSTEMS OF LAW,

LIKE THE l'!...4..L.!HIDA .. ".ND THE PHILOSOPHERS OF INDIA, JUDGE

GOOD AND EVIL THUS, AND MOREOVER IF THEY ARE DENIED BY

REASON THEY WOULD ALSO BE DENIED BY TRADITION, BECAUSE

OF THE DENIAl.- OF THE EVIL OF LYING IN THIS CASE IN THE

LAW-GIVER (ash-shan'). 112. "When he fimshed t.he dtscussion of the Umty he began

the diScussion of J ustwe. And the meamng of Jus tree IS that the Most H1gh rs iar removed irom every evri act and irom bemg reDllSS m what IS mcumbent. And smce Justice depends on the knowledge of good and evrl as detennmed by reason, he mt.roduced the dJ.SCUSSlOn of that. fi"st And F-now that an act the conceptwn of whwh IS necessary (darfu1) erther has a quahty in addrt10n to Its origrnat1on (hudi'ith), or It has not. An example of the latter 1s the movement of one who acts thoughtlessly (as-sahl) and of a sleeper And as for tbe forrnel'; either rM,son hat-e~ tha.t addition or 1t doeij. not -if rt does, that is evrl (al-qabih), and if reason does not hate 1t, it 18 good (al-hasan). (That ll3, an ad wlu.ch uul:' can know of necessity, such as the things we see and hear, either has a moral qnahty in addrtwn tc Its occurrence, or it has not. H It has, and reason does not hate rt, 1t is good-other­wise it is evil.)

113. Erther (1) the doing and not doing of an act is equal, and this is muM~ (mdifferent); or (2) rt IS not equal. And

40

ALLAH'S JUSTiCE 4i

(m this latter ease) if the not doing of it is preferable, +.1-ten. if the opposite (namely, the doing of 1t) IS forbidden 1t IS hardm, otherwise 1t IS ma/C'l'Uh And 1i the doing of 1t IS preferable, then if the leavmg it undone IS forbidden, 1t 1s WUJW ; or If the leaving 1t undone IS pernuss1ble 1t IS mand'11b (or mustahabb).

(l) Doing and not domg eqtuJl" (2) Domg and not domg not equal :

mubaiJ.

(a) Not domg preferable· (a) Dmng It forbidden· ({3) Domg 1t not forbidden:

' . naram malcro1il.

(b) Dmng of 1t preferable (a) Leaving It undone forbidden: wd:Jlb. ({3) Leavmg It undone permiSsible mandi!b

(rnu,~tahahb).

114 8mce t!us !S explamed, know that good and et'Yl.l are used m three senses (1) First, a thing's bemg a quahty of perfectwn, such as ou:r saymg that knowledge IS good, or a quahty of 1mperfectwn, such as our saymg that Ignorance IS ev1l (2) Second, a thmg's bemg agreeable to nature, a.s pleasll!'es, or d!_sa.gre.e.Rble. t.o 1t., ll.S p1uns (3) Thrrd, good IS that the domg of wluch deserves pra1se m this world and reward In the world to come, and evil IB that the Uumg uf whiCh deserves blame m this world and puniShment m the world to come.

1 H) And thPm 18 no flrffPrfmr,p of opmwn A.R to thP fl"Mt two senses bemg determmed by reason But the scholastic theologtlll18 have dtiTt!reU n~ganlwg the thu-U Btm:-;e The Ash'arites say that there IS nothmg ill reason whiCh can gmde to (a knowledge of) good and evil m tlus thrrd sense, but law (must be the gn.de), and whatever 1t calls good IS good, and whatever 1t calls evil IS evil And the Mu'tazihtes and Im.anntes say that there ·t-s that ill reason whlch can guide to it, and that good •• good ill 1tsell, and ev1l 18 evil m 1tself, whether the lawgiver pronounces 1t so or not • And they reply to them (the Ash'antes) lUI follows. (1) Fmt, we know of necessity that some actiOns are good, such as veracity which IB profitable and fau:uesa and domg good and retwumg

a trust and rescuing one wh.o is per~ and of".her Sltch

things, without needmg law (to tell us so); and that others are evil, such as an injurious lie and injuatice and doing harm to one who does not deserve it and other such things, w1thout having any doubt at all about it. For this judgment is -inherent (markfi.z) in human natu .. ~. For when we say to a person, "If you speak the truth you WJll get a dinar," and he be unpre]udwed, by reason aione he will recogmze the truth and desire to speak It.

116. (2) Second, II that which recognizes (mudrik) good And evil were law and nothmg else, 1t would follow t.hat they could not be known apart from It. But this necessity IS false, hence that which necessitates 1t IS iaise also. And the explanation of tills neceSSlty IS that it IS nnpossible of necessity for a thmg conditiOned to be bmdmg apart from the con­d.1t10n, _4..nd the explanatmn of the fall&~.ey of t.he n~:~.(',e~s1ty

is that those who do not beheve m a law, hke the Malaillda and the phllosophers oi Ind1a, do affirm that some actwM are good and others evil Without hesitatillg ill the matter. For II tins (knowledge) consisted ill what IS learned from law then they would not "h&~.ve pronounee.d an op1mon..

117. (3) Tlurd, II ratiOnal good and evil be demed, then it becomes nece88ary that iegai good and evli be demed also. But all agree that tills necessity IS false Hence that which necessitates It IS false also. And the reason for this necessity (for the dema.l of legal good a.nd eVIl); IS the denmL m th1s case; of the evil of a he on the part of the lawgrver, when reason Uoes nut pronounce It evil, so that he gtve~ ilif:' l1e to lum.self And when the evil of a he m lum 1s demed, then the trnst­worthmess o£ what he tells us regarding good and evil must be denied alRO. (That 1s, till :reaROn tR.aches us that a he IS eVIl, we cannot trust the lawgiver-for perhaps he is lymg to us.)

ll8, (2) SECOND, WE ARE FREE AGENTS (fa'i!iina bi'l-ikhti­yar), AND NECESBITY REQUIRES THIS: (a) BECAUSE OF THE

NECESSA.B.Y DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MAN'S FALLING FROM

TBE liOOF AND HIS GOING DOWN F&OM IT BY A LADDEli­

O'IiiEBWiSE OU'"R RESFONSIBILIT""i" (taklif) FOR A 'I·IiiNG WOULD

BE !!!POSSIBLE, L'JfD THEN THEP...E WOtJLD BE NO SUfj (b) .lliD

BECAUSE OF TRE EVIL OF IDS CBIIlATING AN ACT IN US AND

THEN PUNISIDNG US FOR IT; (c) AND BECAUSE OF TRADITION.

119. The belief of Abu'l-ij:asan al-Aah'arl and those who follow him is that all aotions take pla.ce by the Power of AIIB.h t.'he Most lf1gh, and n.o action. wh"'t-eve:r belongs t-o the e:ree.tu..woe. And some of the Ash'arites say that the essence of the a.ot 1s oi Aliah., and the creature has kasb, which they explam as the a.ot10n's bemg obedience or disobedience (that IS, the moral quahty of the a.ot belongs to man, the act 1tself IS Alla.h's)" .ft.nd ~rome of them a.ay t.hat 1t.a mea.rung is that when the creature determmes to nndertske some thmg, AIID.h the Most High creates the act thereupon. And the Iviu!tazllttesh and Zaydites• and Imarmtes sa. y that aotmns whiCh proceed from the creature, and theu quahtles, and the kasb whwh they spoke of, al.l take phwe by the power and chowe of the creature, and he IS not forced (ma.JbUr) to act as he does, but he can act and he can refram irom actmg, and tills 1s the reahty, for several reasons: (1) Fmt, we find a necessary difference between the 1sswng from us of an achon whrch result.s from. plLrpose ani!. mot1v1\ hkA thA ileRCent from the roof by a la.dder, and the lSBWDg of an a.ctwn of another sort, like falling from the roof ~1i..her 1y coustJ:alnt o.t accll.lentt.lly. For we have power to refram from the first (actwn), but not from the second. And rl actiOns were not ours, then they would aU he of one umform lnnll without any du~tmction. But a distinotwn IS present. Hence aetwns are ours, and that is what we sought.

120. (2) Second, 1f the creature were not the brmger-into­e:nstence (mii.j1d) of hiS achons, then h1S taklif would be impoSSible, otherwiSe he would be respons1ble for what he is nnable to perform. And we say thiS because in th!S case he would ilOt ha.ve poweL to do that for wh.mh he lB respoi15ible. For if he were responsible, the respoDSlbility would be for something which he was nnable to perform, and th!S is false, by the agreement of all. And when he is not responsible (mukalla.f), he is not disobedient ('al!i) when he opposes (God's wal), bu.t by the atS-Leement of all he ·is disobedient.

AL-BABU 'L-:i;l!Di 'ASHAR

121. (3) Third, if the creature were not a br~er-into­exJstence of lns actiOns, and did not have power over them, then Allah would be the most unjust oi unjust berngs. For srnce the eVIl actiOn proceeds from the Most H1gh (not from man), it 18 Impossible for the creature to be puniShed for 1t, for he has not performed 1t. But all agree that the Mogt High purushes. Then He would be unjust-but He 18 exalted above that i

122. (4) Fourth, the Mighty Book which IS the Divider (furqan) between true and false teaches everywhere the re!atwn (id3.fa) of the actwn to the creature and.1ts occurrence by h1s wdl, accordmg to the word of the Most High, " Woe to those who wtth thetr hands transcrtbe the Book corruptly, and then say, 'Thts •• from Allah,' that they may sell 1t for some mean prwc I Woe to them for that whtch thetr hands have wr1tten I and Woe to them for t·he game whwh t.hey have made I" (2 73) " .. they follow but a conceit" (6· u6) " ... So iong as they change not what ts m thetr hearts" (8 55) " ... He who doth evil shall be recompen,ed for It " ( 4 I 22) " . . • Pledged to Allah JS every man for his actiOns and t.herr desert '' (52 21) And all t.he verses of promise and threatenrng and blame and praJSe (prove thJS), and they are more than can be numbered.

123. (3) THIRD, REGARDING THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF EVIL

(qubh) IN HIM, BECAUSE HE l-IAS T!L.o\.T WliTOH DETERS HIM

FROM IT, WHICH IS THE KNOWLEDGE ('t!m) OF EVIL, AND HE

HAS .NU MU'l'lYJ<.; .lrUH lJU!.NU J!]V!L, lll!]0AU8~ T.Hl!j .MUT!VJ!] WOVLV

BE EITHER NEED, WHICH IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM, OR THE

WISDOM (hik'"Ula) OF IT, WHICH IS EXCLUDED HERE, AND

BECATJSJil THE PROOF OF 'PROPHECY WOHT.D RF. TM'POSSIBJ~Jil IF

IT WERE POSSIBLE FOR EVIL TO PROCEED FROM HIM

124. It JS lllip088Jblt! fur the Mu~L High to u~ tht! Uuer uf eVIl. Tills 1s the behe£ of the Mu'taz1htes. But to the Ash'antes He •• the Doer of everythmg, be 1t good or eVIl. And the proof of what we have sud 1s twofold: (1) First, that which would deter HW1 from eVIl exiSts, and the mottve for domg evil does not exiSt, and whatever IB thus can.n.ot come

45

to pass o.f necessity. Now as for the existence of a deterrent ( as-sar~f), 1t is the knowledge of evil, and Allah the Most High knows 1t; and as for the non-eXIStence of a mot1ve-the mot1ve IS ruther need of it, and th1s IS 1mposs1ble for H1m, because He needs noth1ng, or 1t 1s the WISdom of 1t, and th1s also 1s lTnpoes!.ble, because there lS no msdom m evt!. (2) Second, If evil were poss1ble for Him, then the proof of prophecy woUla oe ImpossiOie But th1s necessity IS ialse by umversai agreement, hence that whiCh neces.•ntates 1t IS false also. And ill explanatwn of tlus necess1ty-m case He could do e'Vi!, the attestmg of a false prophet would not be ev1l fm Him, and ill such a case assurance (Jazm) as to the veramty of prophecy would be Impossible, and thts ts seif-evtdent

125 HENCE IN TIDS CASE THE WILL TO DO EVIL IS IMl,OSSlllLE

FOR HIM, FOP. !T (that W!ll) !S EV!L.

126 The Ash'arites hold that the Most H1gh IS the W11ler (murid) o£ all contingent exrstence, he 1t good or evri, VICe

or vutue, fa1th or unbehef, because He IS the brmger-illto­eXJstence of everythmg, and IS therefore also the Willer of It. • And the Mu't.a.z1htesb hold t.ha.t rt rs 1mposs1ble. for Him to will evil and unbehef, and that IS the reahty. For the w11J to do evil IB 1rsen evll. For we know of necessrty that rust as ratronal bemgs blame the doer of evtl so also tbey blame the Wilier of It, and the command to do 1t So the sa yillg of the author: "m th1s case/' st..a.ted the result: namely~ that tbe Impossibility of the evtl act (m H1m) necessitates the llli}iOSS1b1hty of the will to do 1t.

127. (4) FOUll.TH, REGARDING THE FACT THAT THE MOST

"HTGH ACTS WITH AN AIM (gharsd), REOAT_TSF. Tl{li; KORAN TEACHES

IT, AND BECAUSE THE NEGATION OF IT WOULD RESULT JN

VA:N.ni" (alw'abath), AND THAT iS EVIL.

128. The Ash'arttes hold that the Most High does not act with an aim, for 1£ He did He would be rmperfect, and would be seelnng to perfect Himself by that aim. And the Mu'tazilites say that tbe actiOns of Allah are efiected (mu'allal) by a:uus, othe:rwJ.se He would be actmg m V&ill

and Allah is exalted above that. And this is the opinion of our comparuons the Im&nites, and it is the reality, for two reasons: ( 1) First, the traditional-and the teaching of the Koran regardmg tins IS clear, accordmg to the saying of the Most High, "What I did ye then tlunk that we had created you for past1m.e ('abath), and that je should not be brought back agam to us i" (23: II7); and, "I have not created Jmn and men but that theyshouid worsinp me" (lil· 56);" We have not created the heaven and the earth and what is between them for nought (biitll) That IS the thought of the Infidels" (38: z6). (2) Second, the ratmnal proof 1s that 1£ 1t were not thus (that Allah has an aim m all HIS actiOns) it would necessarily foliow that He acts m vatn But this necesstty IS false, hence that whwh necessitates it is false also. Now the reason for its bemg necessary is evident. And the necesSity IS false, for a vam th1ng ia e'Vll, and one who is W 1se (halrl."ll.) does not engage m what IS evil And "" for thmr saymg that If He acted with an aim He would be seekmg to perfect Himself by that a~m, certamly If the aim benefited Him He would necessarily be seekmg to perfect Thmself, and He IS not hke that. But the ann !S beneficml for the p:rofit (naf') of the creature, or else 1t IS because of the reqmrements of the order (ruz8.m.) oi eXIstence, and this does not necessitate a seeiong for perfectwn (on the part of Allah)

129. AND THE AIM OF ALLAH IS NOT THE INJURY OF MAN,

BECAUSE THAT IS EVIL, BUT (RATHER) HIS PROFIT (naf') 130. Smce 1t IS estabhshed that the actiOn of the Most H1gh

IS effected by an a1m, and th1s aim concerns not Himself but otJ:wrs, then 1n such a case H1s mm 1s not the InJury of others, for that m the opnnon of rational bemgs IS eviJ-ag If one should g1ve pmsoned food to another w1th the purpose of lallmg lum. And smce the aim 1s not mJury, It 1s certam that 1t 1s profit (naf'), wluch 1s what we sought.

131. HENCE THERE MUST BE takltj, WHICH IS RESPONSIBILITY

(ba'th) TO HIM TO WHOM OBEDIENCE IS DUE (Wa)lb) IN THAT

IN WHICH IS LABOUR (ffi!l8haqqa) BY WAY OF A BEGINNING

('al£. jihatl'l-ibtida) ON CONDITION OF KNOW""LNG.

ALL!ES JU-s'l'llJJ:!.j 47

132. It has been proved that the aim of the action of tho Most lllgh is the profit of the creature. And there is no real profit except finai reward (thawab). For everything except that is either guarding agamst injury or acquiring profit that Ill not ab1ding, and it IS not good that that ;hould be the aun 1, the ereatlon of man. Then final reward at the first is evtl, as shall be explained later (that 1s, one must first labour, then receive a reward [see par. 143j). Hence wiSdom requ~res that taklif be the means (tawassut) (of attain1ug reward). And taklif 18 der1ved from kU/ja, whwh means !rouble, and m usage 1t 1s that whieh O'!.!T author mentioned.

133. And ba'th for a thmg 1s bemg respons1ble for it. And HE TO WHOM OBEDIENCE rs DUE IS Allah the lVIost Hlgh. So for that rellllOn he says, " BY WAY OF A BEGINNING" (first of all), because the obhgatJon to obey any other than Allah, such ns prophet; 1ma.m, father, lord, O!' benefact.o!' follows, and is a consequence of, obedience to Allah. And h1s saymg, " IN

THAT ~ WHW.ti .us LA.Hou&, was to guard agamst that m which Ill no labour, such as the responSJb1hty of marrying, whiCh produces pleasure, and of partakmg of foods and drmks whwh prod11Ce pl~J:UU1l"A. (Only thoRP. eommn.mlR whu~h re ..

qu~re us to do d1stasteful thmgs, such as namdz (worslup ), rUza (faBtUig), anU BU forbh, llilll't Le obeyetl, anU have rewards and pumshments. Allah commanded mamage, but lf one does not marry he IS not pumshed, and If he does he 1s not rewarded )

134. And his saymg, "ON CONDITION OF KNOWING," means on conditiOn that the mukanaf knows what task has been laid upon hun, and knowmg 1s one of the cond1twn.s of the taldif's bemg good. And the cond1tJons of Its bemg good are three (1) The first of these concerns taklif 1tself, and 1s fourfold. (a) first, the absence of a cause ol corruptiOn m1t, smce such a cause would be eVJl, (b) second, 1ts precedrng the t1me of the act (we must be told our duty before the tune to perform 1t), (c) third, the possibility of 1ts performance, because taldif for somethmg that cannot be done IS evt!, (d) fourth, the nresence lrn the act) of a quahtv rn add1bon to bellll!: I(Ood (J,Jusn), s,;,ce one is' not ..,.Ponsibie for (the perfo~c~ of) m~'J (see par. 113).

48

135. (2) The ser-....ond concerns Hun who n·npoees i-.l.e task (mukallrl), that '"· the Author (fa'•l) of the takllf, and 1t 1s fourioid. (a) first, His knowledge oi the quahties oi an action, whether 1t IS good or evil; (b) second, H1s knowledge of the measure of the reward and puniShment which each smgle mulcalla.f deserves, (c) third, the power of grvmg t-o each one h1s due, (d) fourth, His not bemg a doer of evil.

lii6. (3) The third concerns the mukaiklj, that IS, the one upon whom rests the taklij, and It IS threefold. (a) first, his power over the act, because It 18 mpo881ble for one to have a task imposed on hun (takltf) wllich he cannot perform, such as the takllj of a blmd man for a dot m the Koran, or of a onppie for fiyiUg, (b) second, ius knowmg what task has been Imposed upon ium, or the possibility of his knowmg 1t, for the IgllOrant man who 18 able to know IS not excUBable, (o) t.lnrd, the poss1brhty of the means (of perfo!'!lll!lg) the action.

137. Then that which IS covered by taklif IS either know· ledge ('IIm), or suppo81tiOn (zann), or deed ('amal) (a) Know­ledge 1s mther ratiOnal, such as the knowledge of Allah and His quaht!es and Ills Ju.stwe and His wu~dom. and of prophecy and of the Imamate," or traditiOnal, such as (the knowledge of) the rehg10us ordinances, (b) and suppositiOn IS hke (findmg) the directiOn of the qwla, (c) and deed 18 bke worship.

138, 0THEltWIS"E HE WOULD BR AN INCT't'ER (mughri) TO

EVIL, IN THAT HE CREATED (IN MAN) THE PASSIONS AND THE

DESIRE :r'OR EVIL AND THE HATRED OF GOOD. HENCE THERE

MUST BE A RESTRAINT (Ziijir), AND THAT IS takllj. 139. This IS a suggestion that takllj 1s mcumbent on philo­

sophical grounds. And this IS the belief of the Mu'tazilltes, and It IS the reality, as opposed to the doctrme of the Ash'ru.J.tes, for they do not :make a.rrythmg mcumbent (wA]lb) upon Allah the Most H1gh, either takllj or anythiUg else. And the proof of what we have said is that If 1t were not thus Allah would be the author of evil. In explanatiOn of thiS, (we say that) He has created m man passion (ash-shahwa) and deaL.-a for tw1l and hatred of and a.ve...oion to good.ft Hence If

ALLAH'S JUSTICE 49

He d1..! not lay upon man as a task f.'he incnmbene-e of t.hA.t wluch is incumbent and the eVIl of what wh1ch 1s evil, and pronuse (him rewards for obedience) and threaten him (with pumshment for rusobedience), then Allah the Most H1gh would be mmtmg man to evil, and mmtmg to ev1l1s evd.

140. ANn KNOWLEDGE ('dm) IS NOT SUFFICIENT, BECAUSE

BLAME iS EASY (to bear) Hi ATTAiNING AN OlHECT DESiRED.

141. This IS the answer to a supposed questwn, namely, why the knowledge that one IS worthy of blame for domg ev1l does not prevent one from <lomg evil, and why the knowledge that one IS worthy of pra1se for domg good does not mduce one to do good, m wluch case there would be no need. for ktl.llf, because the aim would be reahzed without 1t ~ (This IS the pos1t10n oi the Ash'ar1tes.) The author answers that knowledge IS not sufficient, because frequently man finds blame for evil easy (to bear), smce by means of 1t he attams lns ObJect Th!s lS especne.!ly true m Vlf!W of the presence of sensual motJves, whwh m most people trmmph over ratmnal motives.

142. AND THE REASON FOR takllf's BEING GOOD I~ THAT

IT APPRISES (men) OF REWARD (ath·thawab), THAT 18, OF

THE MERITED ADVANTAGE WHICH IS JOINED (muq8.rm) WITH

EXALTATION' (a.t-ta.'zlm) AND VENERA.TlON (al-ijlal), THE

BElHNNING WITH WHICH IS IMPOSSIBLE (that 18, God cannot reward men ior actiOns wluch have not been commanded them. Hence He fir.! appomts them tasks, and then rewards them for domg them).

143. Th!s also !S en answer t-o a supposed qucst!On, the suppositJOn bemg that the reason for ktkllf's bemg good IS

e1ther that 1t brmgs plliliBhment, which Js absolutely ia.ise, (for puwshment ts not a good), or that It bnngs reward, which IS also false, and that for two reasons: first, the mfidel who d1es in h!IJ unbeliel IS a mtlk.albzf m sprt.e of h1s failure t.o acqnn'A reward, and second, reward 1S decreed (maqdoi.r) by Allah the Most High in the begw.n.ing, and therefore tlle:tt: 1s no ad­-.antage in wkllf' • bemg a means of reward. The author

4

replies that the reason for takltf'a being good is that it apprises (ta'r!Q.) men of reward, not that it brings them reward. And appnsmg is universal as regards both believer and unbeliever. And that reward JS decreed by Allah the Most H1gh in the beginnmg is admitted, but it is impossible for Hlm to begm vnth it ex"apt by means of takUf (that 1e, to reward men Wlth­out first appomtmg tasks for them). For reward consiSts of exaltation and veneratiOn, and reason pronounces the exaita­twn of a person who does not deserve 1t to be ev1l. And the author says m explanatiOn of reward, that 1t 1s " mer1ted advantage wh1ch !S JOmed with exaltation." Now advantage (naf') compriSes reward (thawab) and grsce (tafadQ.ul) and recompense ('1wadj. Hence by the condmon that 1t be mented, grace is excluded, and by the conditiOn that 1t be jomed w1th exaltatiOn, recompense 1s excluded. (Recompense !S merely wages p~ud-but A!I!lh does more-He pays us our due and exalts us besides. Hence th1s 1s not recompense but reward.)"

144. (5) FIFTH, REGARDING THE FACT THAT KINDNESS (lutf) IS INClTMBENT UPON THE MOS.T HIGH- .AND LU'fF IS THAT

WHICH BRINGS THE CREATURE NEAR TO OBEDIENCE AND KEEPS HIM FAR FROM DISOBEDIENUE. AND IT IS NO PART (hazz) OF ABILITY (tamkln), AND rT DOES NOT GO AS FAR AS COM­PULSION (al-llJa') Fan THE AIM OF THE IMPOSER OF TASKS (a.l-Mu.kalhf) DE?END8 "UPON I'r, FoR WHENEVER HE WHO

WILLS AN ACT FROM ANOTHER (that IS, when Allah WillS that man do aomethmg) KNOWS THAT HE WILL NOT lJO J'f :t;XC~t'"l'

WITH THE AID OF AN ACT WHICH THE WILLER CAN PERFORM

WITHOUT .ANY TROUBLE, THEN IF HE DOES NOT PERFORM IT

HE WOTJT_.J) BE CON'l'RADmTTNCl HTR OWN ATM, AND R.F.A_RON"

PRONOUNCES THAT EVIL--ALLAH IS EXALTED ABOVE THAT 1

140. On what do~ Lhe perfornumce of obec:hence and the refrainmg from diSObedience depend 1 (I) F~rst, on the presence of the power and means Without which the act cannot be performed; and (2) second, on the presence of lutf (kmdness), by wluch one who is responsible (muka!laj) for an act of obedience which he cauuot perform without l-utf

ALLAH'S JUSTICE

is enabled to draw near to obedience and refrain from dis-obedience, (for example, in worslup the acts of kneeling, speaking, etc., are ours, by Allah's lutf).

146. And Jus saying, "IT IS NO PART OF ABILITY," refers to the first part, namely power, for power in actions 1s not lut J, but :rather a condition of their possibthty. (My power to pray is not AllAh's kindness to me-rather 1t IS the necessary con­ditiOn oi the possibliity oi my obeymg the conmmnd to pray) And hlB saJing, " IT DOES NOT GO AS FAR AS COMPULSION,"

is true, because 1f It went as far as compulsiOn 1t would nullify taklif.

147. And smce this IS settled, then know that lu({1s some· ilmes shown 1n ihe act oi Alltih, 1n whiCh case 1t 1s mcumbent upon H1m, and sometimes 1t 1s shown m the act of the mukallaf, in whwh case 1t IS mcumbent upon the Most Htgh to mform the muk-a.Uaf of h!B duty and m.n.lte 1t· 1ncumbent upon h1m, and sometimes It IS shown m (the act of) someone other than Ai11h and the mukallaf (namely, the prophet), In whwh case It becomes a conditiOn of taklif that one know the prophet, and that Allah make mcumbent on h1m that act (namely, dehvel"l...ng h1lll message), ~md eon...firm 1t for ]nm_ _And ou.r saymg that they (the three kmds of lu!J) are all mcumbent on Allih is because He would contradict His arm lf thiS were not the case. And contrad1ctwn of Rim 1s evil for Him.

148. And the explanatwn of tills 1s that when He w1lls that someone. perform BOme a_.('.t, R_.nd knows tho_.t. t.he man for whom Jt IS willed will not perform the desired act ulliess the W11ler aids him w1th an act which He periol'lllB with h1m~ such ats an act of kmdlmess (mu!Mafa) toward him or of correspondence With !urn (mukataba) or of sendmg to h1m or of strivmg for him, and so forth, in whJCh there 1s no trouble (mashaqqa) for H1m-then If He does not do these things whwh He had r-esolved to do, ratwnal bemgs would JUdge that He had contradwted H1s purpose, and would blame H1m accordmgly. And hke this is what (the author) sa1d regardmg the Most H~gh Creator, that If, when He wills the performance of obedience and the removal of diSobedience, He does not do that on wluch these two tlungs depend, He would then be contiadioting

And contradiction of aim is a\il, exalted above that, the Most High and Most Exalted !

149. (6) SIXTH, IN REGARD TO THE FACT THAT AN ACTION

IN RECO:MPENSE ('1w3\l} FOI!. THE SUFFERINGS (alam} WHICH

MEANING OF RECOMPENSE IS A DESERVED ADVANTAGE IN

WHICH IS NO EXALTATION 011 VENEI!.ATJON-OTHEI!.WISE HE

WOULD BE UNJUST, AND ALLAH IS EXALTED ABOVE THAT. AND

IT IS INCUMBENT TRAT IT BE IN EXCESS OF THE SUFFERING,

OTHEP..WT..SE IT WOLTLD BE IN" V A.IN.

150. In the suffering winch bvtng creatures experience e1ther some sort oi ev1i 18 recogmzed (and that proceeds entirely from us}, or else ev!l1s not recogmzed m 1t, m which case it is good. And several tlungs have been ment1oned as to the good of pam: ~PBt, 1ts bemg deserved, second, its containing advantage m excess (of the pam} which benefits the sufferer; thud, 1ts contaiiDng protection irom mJury in excess oi the pam, fourth, 1ts bemg common to man, fifth, 1ts contam1ng a sort of protectiOn. And thJS good sometimes proceeds from the Most. H1gh, and aomebmes proeeeil....e from us. .And that. whwh proceeds from the Most Htgh IS for onr ad vantage, and 1t 1s necessary that there be In It two thmgs · (1) Fll'8t, recom­pense for the suffermg, otherwise He would be unjust, and Allah 1s exalted above that. And It 1s necessary that the reoomptmse be m excess of the pam to the extent that every ratiOnal bemg be satisfied. For It JS evil m onr opmwn (fi'tih-sh&hid) to cause anyone to suffer ill order to r-eco:w.pense rum for the suffertng without (giVIng hun} something in excess, because that would be m vam. (2} Second, there must be (m the suffermg some) kmdness (lutf), either for the sufferer or for another, that it may not be in vain. But as for that su:ffenng which proceeds from us in which there is some sort of evil-it is incumbent upon .All8.h to avenge the sufferer of his tormentor, because of Ills justice ('ad!}, and because the Koran teaches it. And m thJS case the reoompense must be equal to the suffering. And if it were not thus He would be unjust.

ALLAH'S JUSTiu~

151. ... -\n.d here there a....oe scv~-al m;t+...em of : ..... pot*..ance: (I) FJrSt, recompense (al-'twaQ.) is a merited advantage in which is no exaltatiOn or veneration. By the conditiOn of being mented it is distmguished from grace (tafaQ.o;lul), and by the conditwn of being without any exaltation it 18 dtstm­gu.mhed from rewa...-d. (tha.w&b).a (2) Second, 1.., is necessary that recompense be abidmg (dawam), because It IS not good m our optmon (fi'sh-shii.htd) for one to endure penlous woes and pamful and great and laborious trtals for a small transient advantage. (3) It IS not nooeBBary that the recompense be acqmrcd :m thw world, for porunbly AHD.h knows that there IS an advantage ill Its delay. Hence, It 18 sometrmes acquired m tills world, and somet1mes 1t 1s not. (4) He who receives the recompense for his suffermgs at the last day wtll be either of those who are rewarded or of those who are pumshed . .L<\.nd 1f he be of those who are rcwa..'"'<ied, then 1t lB euftiment for Allah to gtve lum !us recompense, that IS, that He divtde tt up mto pertods, or that He show grace to htm m some such way. (The Ash'antes say that ParadiSe 18 m Itself suffiment reward for pam, but the Shl'1tes say that a recompense 1s also necesBary.) ...Aa.nd. IT he be of those who arc pu...~lBhed, ...A~llih w1ll cancel a part of h1s pumshment because of !us former suifermgs, ill such a way that the hghtenmg of 1t WJi! not be ev1dent to h1m, smce He w1ll d1vtde the measure of 1t mto periods. (5) The suifermg wluch proceeds from us to others, etther by the command (s.mr} of the Most Htgh or else by HIB permisswn, and that wluch proceeds from creatures such as the dumb brutes, and hke the wastillg of proiit for the ad­vantage of someone else wh1ch proceeds from Hrm, and the downpour of woes which come from sometlung other than the act of man-th.e recompense for a!! this re rncumbent upon Allah the Most Htgh, because of H1s Justwe ('ad!) and H1s Meroy (karamj.

SECTION V

10~. IJONCERNING PROPHECY: THE PROPHET (an-nabi)-oN HIM BE PEACE '-IS A MAN WHO BRINGS A MESSAGE (a\-mukhbir) FROM ALLAH THE MOST HIGH WITHOUT THE MEDIATION OF ANY

HUMAN BEING.

153, When he had finiShed the discussiOn of Justice he con-nooted with 1t the du~CU5510n of Prophecy, because of 1ts bemg a branch of Jt, And he defined the Prophet as A MAN WHO BRINGS A MESSAGE FROM ALLAH WITHOUT THE MEDIATION OF ANY HUMAN BEING. And by the term "MAN," ange] IS ex· eluded. And by the term, " A BRINGER OF A MESSAGE FROM ALL1H," every one 1s excluded who br1ngs a message from any besides Allah. And by the term (whwh reqmres) the ab­sence of human med1atton, the Invlm and the doctor ('cliiw) are excluded, for they are bnngers of a message from Allah through the med1atmn of the Prophet

154. Smce th1s 1s settled, then know that (the exJStence of) Prophecy and Jts bemg good (husn) are necessary (wdJib) on ph1looophwal grounds, contrary to the Barahm1yya and the Ash'arttes.• And the proof of thJS 1s that smce the purpose 1n the brmging of mankmd mto existence 1s the advantage (m"'!laha) wluch accrues to them (that IS, Allah creates man not for Ills own glory but for man's good), then brmgmg them near to that m wh.J.ch their advantage consists and restrammg them from that whwh would corrupt them Js necessary on phllosopl11ca.l grounds. And that is (true), e1ther 1n their present state or their future state.

155. (I) As for therr present state, smce for the preservation of the human race necesBity reqmres a soc1ety (!Jma'), and Bince m a soCiety every md!v1dual opposes Ius comparuon in seelrmg what he. needs. then a !!OC-!ety must res:ult 1n con­tent10ns and disagreements wh1ch ar1se from the love which every 1D.div1dual h~ for lu.rw~d£ Wid the desire that he has ior Ius own profit, notior that of another, so that 1t would end

54

PROPHECY 55

m the corruption a.nd extinctiOn of the race. Hence wiSdom demands the enstence of JUStice which Wlll ordam a law to b3 put mto effect among meu m such a way that every mdiVIdual may obey Its commands a.nd heed Its prohibitiOns. Then If that law were ordamed for them, the result would be the same as at fil"8t (namely, disorder and anarchy), because every mmvidnal hM his own oplllion whteh his reason and desu:e dtctate and h1s nature necessitates. Hence 1n such a case there must be a lawgiver who can distmgmsh between the verses (a yat) and teachmgs (of the Koran) whJCh prove his own veracity, that a proclarmer be appomted for the law by Allah to promise rewards to the obedient and to threaten with pumshment the dlSObement, that he may mvite man to obey !us commands and pro hi bitwns.

156. (2) And as to theu: future state-now smce final blessed!!ess (sa'ilda) IS not acqmred except by the parlectwn of the soul (nafs) by real knowledge and nght actwns, and smce attachment to the tlunga of the world and the absorption of the mmd m the garment of flesh prevent the attammant of that m the most complete manner and the most direct way, or If It IS attamed It IS mmgled With doubt and opposed by fear-hence 1n such a case the existence of a p3rson IS reqmred who does not have that hmdermg attachment, so that he can g>ve them proofs and make them plam to them, and make doubts to vamsh and protect men from them, and asSist that to whwh their r....ans guide them (that Is, natural rehg10n), and explam that to whwh they have not been gwded (namely, perf<"lt knowledge), and remmd them of theu: Creator and thett Objcot of Worship, and appomt them acts of devotiOn ('Ibw:h\t) and nght actwns, what they are and how they are to be performed, m order to seenre for them nearness to Allah, and repeat them for men m order that they may through repet1t10n seek to keep his admomtwns, lest carelessness and forgetfulness, wluch are man's sewnd nature, overcome them And tlus person who 18 needed both for the present and the future state IS the Prophet. Hence (the exiStence of) the Prophet IS necessary (wljib) on pbllosophical grounds, and that IS what we sought. - •

AL-B!BU 'L-~1 'ASHAB

157. MD IN THIS THERE AilE SEVEJIAL SUBJECTS FOB IN­

VESTIGATION. (1) FIRST, REGAIIDING THE PROPHETIC 1\IISSION

(nubuwwa) OF 01/B PROPHET MUJjAMMAD B. 'AIIDU'LLAH B.

'ABDU'L-MUI'TALIB, THE MESSENGER OF ALL.i.H (UPON HIM BE

PEACE I) (And he is a prophet) BECAUSE MIIIACLES (mu'jiza) WE&E WROUGHT BY HIS HAND, SUCH AS THE KOBAN AND THE

SPLITTING- OF THE MOON AND THE ISSUING OF WATER FROM

BETWEEN HIS FINGERS AND THE FEEDING OF A GREAT MULTI~

TUDE WITH A LITTLE FOOD AND THE PRAISING ALLAH OF PEBBLES

IN HIS HAND, AND HIS MIRACLES WERE MORE THAN CAN BE

NUMBERED. Now HE CLAIMED TO BE A PROPHET. HENCE

HE IS VERACIOUS (~ootq), OTHERWISE THE INCITING OF THE

mukal/aj TO EVIL WOULD BE NECESSARY, AND THAT IS IM­

POSSIBLE.

158. Smce problems vary accordmg to the changmg of the tnnes and of people, as m the case of a swk person whose con­ditiOn changes as regards the nature of h18 cure and the use of medwmes accordmg to the varmt10n of hrs constitutiOn and the fluctuatiOn of hrs disease, so that at one tnne he 18 cured by somethmg whtch at another ttme would not be able to cure htm, therefore prophecy and laws (shari' a) must vary accordmg to the vanatton of the probleU18 of man m dtfierent ages. And thts IS the mystery m the abrogatiOn of some codes of laws by others, ttl! prophecy and law culmmated (mtahat) m our Prophet Mu}.lammad, whose prophecy and law by the demands of reason (al-Jpkma) abrogate (rulstkh) that whtch preceded them, and wtll themselves abtde so long as takllf abides.

159. And the proof of the valtdity of hts prophettc m18siOn is that he clanned to be a prophet, and mtracles were wrought by h18 hand, and whoever ts thus 18 really a prophet. Therefore we need to explam three matters: first, that he clanned to be a prophet, second, that mtracles were wrought by hts hand; and thtrd, that whoever IS thus ts really a prophet. (1) As for the fust, It •• proved by the agreement of all men, so that no op.e derues It.

160. (2) And as for the second-now a mtracle (mu'Jtza) IS a thmg (amr) whtch breaks m upon the ordmary course of nature m accordance w1th a clann (e.g., he must first say, "1

PROPHECY 67

will heal this blind man," and then heal him}, and united woth a purpose (ta~addl), the domg of the bke of which is unposs1ble for man. If tt does not break m upon the ordinary course of nature, then tt ts no mtracle, as, for instance, the rtsmg of the sun in the east. And 1t must accord w1th a claun, because 1t is tc prove the truth of that whoch he clanns. For tf the miracle did not so accord, as m the case of Musaybma the Liar,• then 1t would not prove Ins veraetty. And It 1S impossible for men to do the bke of tt, because tf tt should occur frequently 1t would not attest (the truth of) prophecy.

161. Now there IS no doubt that moracles were wrought by the hand of our prophet, and thiS 1l! known by tawUtur (trust­worthy tradot10n winch has come down by a number of mde­pendent Iones Without a break), whwh acquamts us w1th necessary knowledge ('lim) And among h1s lU!racles 1S the GraciOUS Koran with whiCh he challenges ( tshadda) men and seeks from them the brmgmg of 1ts hke. But they have not been able to do 1t For the eloquent orators of the purest Arabs were impotent, and theor impotence even led them to war and fightmg whwh resulted m the loss of theor hve• and property and the captivity of theor w1ves and chtldren. For smce they were better ahle to defend themselves agamst that (the lU!racle of the Koran) because of the1r mastery of m­div!dual words and the arrangement of them, masmueh as they were people of eloquence and style and speech and oratory and conversatiOn and repartee, theor turrnng back from that to ws.r 1s a proof of theor impotence. For a ratoonal creature will never choose the harder courae when the eas1er IS open t.o hom, except when he IS 1m potent to do the eas1er.

162. And others of hos mtrneles are the sphttoug of the moon, and the gushmg of water from between hts fingers, and the feedmg of a great multitude With a lottie food, and the praosmg of Allah of pebbles m hos hand, and the speech of the poiSOned wold calf (warrung Muhammad not tc eat 1t}, and the moanmg of the five-year-old camel (warmug h1m of danger), and the speech of dumb ammals, and the telhng of tlnngs htdden, and the answermg of Ins prayers, and others that cannot be numbered for multitude wluch are known from books of

58 AL-BABU 'L-I;!Anl 'ASHAR

miracles and history. So that the record of more than one thousand miracles has been preserved, the greatest and most exalted of wh~eh is the Mighty Book-" Falsehood, from what­ever side It cometh, shall not come nigh 1t, It IS a miSSive sent down from the Wise, the Praiseworthy" (41: 42)-wh1ch their hearts d1d not embrace and which their ears d1d not hear, and by the excessive reJection of which (the hke of 1t) was not produced, and the darkness has not been Illummed except by It.

163. (3) As for the third, 1f he were not veraCious m hiS claim to be a prophet, then he would be a har. And that IS false, smce It would necessitate the mc1tmg of mukallafs to obey a har, and that IS evil wruch the WIBe (Allah) would not comnut.

164. (2) 8JjlCOND, REGARDING HIS IMMUNITY TO SIN ('!'!Ill"). AND IMMUNITY TO SIN IS A HIDDEN KINDNESS (lutf) WHICH ALLAH THE MOST HIGH SHOWS TO (the Prophet) ON WHOM HE HAS LAID THIS TASK (mukal\sf), THAT HE MAY HAVE NO INCENTIVE TO FORSAKE OBEDIENCE AND TO COMMIT SIN

(ma'~1ya), ALTHOUGH HE HAS THE POWER (qudra) TO DO SO. FOR IF IT WERE NOT SO ONE COULD HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN HIS WORD. THEN THE VALUE OF HIS PROPHETIC MISSION

WOULD BE NULLIFIED, AND THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE.

165. Know that a person 1nnnune to sm (ma'~fun) shares With others m the kmdnesses whwh brmg men near to Alli\h. And m addition to that, because of the nature of his soul (malaka nafsamyya), he enJoys a spemal form of kindness wruch Allah bestows upon rum, so that because of that he does not choose to forsake obedience and to conun1t sm, although he has the ability to do so. (An angel does not have that ability.) And some hold that the Ma',Um cannot COilliillt sm, and this IS false, otherwise he would deserve no praiSe.

166, Now that th1s IS settled, know that there IS a difference of opimon regarding the llUUlUUlty of the prophets to sm. And the Khar~jite• (al-KhawariJ) held that wns (dhunub) were possible for them, and accordmg to them all sm 1s In­

fidelity. And the I;lashWites• held that It was possible for them to comnut the great sms. And some of them demed

PROPHECY

{that they committed them) intentionally hut not that they {lOmmitted them unintentionally, and they held that the intentional coD:l.lil.itt.ing of sroall sins was possible. And the Ash'aritee denied absolutely that they could commit the great sins, but they allowed the small ones umntentionally {lOmmitted. And the Imanntes have made Immumty to all sm, intentional and unintentional, absolutely ne<>essary (wajib ), and that iS the reahty, for two reasons· (1) The first is that to which the author referred, and his explanatJOn IS that If the prophete were not ma' sum the value of their DllSBlon would be nullified. And this necessity IS false, hence that whirh neces· o1tates it is false also. And the explanatiOn of thiB ne<><>sslty is that when disobedience 1s poa.:nble for th::un no confidence can he placed m their word, because m tins case a he would be poss1ble (Jii'IZ) for them. And when no confidence could be placed m them, then the1r commands and prolub1tiOns would not be obeyed. Then the value of theu missiOn would be nulhfied, and that IS Impossible. (2) Second, If sm (dhanb) proceeded from them 1t would (still) be mcumbent to follow them. because trad1t10n teaches that to follow them 1s meum­bent. But that would be Impossible, for It would be evil (to follow a man who IS a sinner) Hence 1t IS 1mposs1ble for sin to proceed from them, wh!ch lS whet we sought.

167. (3) THIRD, HE IS IMMUNE TO SIN FROM THE FIRST OF

HIS LIFE TO THE LAST OF IT, BECAUSE THE HEARTS OF MEN

WILL NOT BE BOUND IN OBEDIENCE TO ONE IN WHOM H A~ BEEN

OBSERVED DUBING HIS PAST LIFE VARIOUS SINS GREAT AND

SMALL AND 'l'fiAT Wf.llO.ti T.ti.I!O SOUL HATES.

168. Those whom we mentioned (the Ash'antes) who assert the Immumty of the prophets to Sill hold that tills applies to them only after thell' mspiration (wa.l)y);; though they deny that they were prev1ously gmlty of mfidehty and repeated sin. And our oowpaw.ons (the Iwilllites) say that llllilllllllty to sw is absolutely necessary (wdJib) both before insp1ratwn and after 1t to the end of hfe. And the proof of that IS what the author mentioned, and it 1s self-ev1dent.

169. And that which is found in the M1ghty Book (47: ZI), " Ask pardou. for thy sin ( dha.nb) ! ", and m the traditions

60 AL-BABU 'L-l;IADI 'ASHAR

which might lead one to imagine that they had been guilty of sin involves (only) their leaving the better course (tarku'l­awl&). Thus what reason teaches us harmonizes with the veracity of tradition, although all of tlus which h&B been mentioned has vanous aspects and Imphcattons. And thou canst read the book, "The Cl,.,ring of the Prophets" (Tanzihu'l­Anbiya), which SaJYld Mlll'ta4a 'Alaniu'l-Hucl& al-Mfu!awl composed, and other books also, and If I d1d not fear to prolong the discUSSion I would quote a sample of 1t.

170. (4) FOURTH, IT IS NECESSARY THAT THE PROPHET BE

THE BEST (afgal) OF THE PEOPLE OF HIS AGE, BECAUSE IT IS

EVIL BOTH BY REASON AND TRADITION FOR AN INFERIOR (al­maf<;IUI) TO HAVE PRECEDENCE OVER A SUPERIOR (a!-fachJ). ALLAH THE MOST HlGH SAYS, " IS HE THEN WHO GUIDETH

INTO THE TRUTH THE MORE WORTHY TO BE FOLLOWED, OR HE

WHO GUIDETH NOT UNLESS HE BE HIMSELF GUIDED 1 WHAT

THEN HATH BEFALLEN YOU THAT YE SO JUDGE!" (10 36). 171. It IS necessary (wil]Ib) that the Prophet possess all the

qnal1hes of perlectJOn and superiority, and 1t 18 necessary that he be m that respect supenor to and more perfect than every indiVIdual of the people of h1s age. For 1t IS evil, both by reason and traditiOn, for the W1se and Ommsc1ent (Allah) to give to the mfenor who needs perfectmg precedence over the aupenor and the perfector. (It IS ev!l) by reason, as JB evident, smce 1t IS evil m the opmwn of authorities to make a begmner ill Junsprudence take precedence over Ibn 'Abbas and others bke h1m among the !a wyers, or to make a beginner m log1c take precedence over Aristotle, or to make a begmner ill grammar take precedence over Slbawa!lu and al-Kballl,• and so in all the sCiences. And (1t IS evJ!) by tradition, as the Praised One illdwated ill the verses quoted and m others.

172. (5) FIFTH, IT IS NECESSARY THAT HE BE FAR REMOVED

FROM BASENESS (daua'a) ON THE PART OF HIS MALE ANCESTRY

AND FROM DEBAUCHERY ('1hr) OF THE FEMALE, AND FROM

DEFECTS IN ms CREATION AND FROM FLAWS IN CREATION,

SINCE THAT WOULD BE IMPERFECTION. THEN HE WOULD

PROPHECY 61

LOBE HIS l'LA.CE IN MEN's HEARTS, AND THAT 18 CONTRABY

TO WRA.T WE ARE SEEKING.

173. Since what is sought in creation is complete attach­ment (inqiy~d) to the prophet and that men's hearts should welcome hrm, it is necessary that he possess the qualitiel! that are praiseworthy, such as the perfectiOn of reason and of sagacity and of prudence, and the absence o! forgetfulness, and strength of optmon and of vtgour and of greatness and <>f self-restraint and of courage and of generoSJty and of ltber­ality and of bounty and of kmdness and of zeal and of tender­ness and of mercy and of hurmltty and of meekness, and so forth, and that he be free from everythm~ whwh would canse rmperfectwn m Htm. And that would be caused either by his relationship to somet.hing outside lnmself, such as the baseness of his fathers and the debauchery of his mothers, <>r by his relatJonslup to hiDlSe!f, and that Is either: (1) m bis concht10n (ahwa!), such as eatmg on the road (an unseemly thmg for a prophet), and a.ssomatwn with corrupt people, and that he should be a silk-weaver who weaves with hts feet, <>r that he should bleed people, or be a street-sweeper, or have ""Y such base oecupatwn; or (2) m h1s character (akhlaq), such as rancour and Ignorance and mahce and envy and harsh­ness and rudeness and a vance and cowardice and covetousness of the world and destre for 1t and paying attention to the people <>f the world and excusmg them from Allah's commands and other such faults, or (3) m hts nature (tabi'a), such as leprosy and elephantiasis (judhilm) and msamty and dumbness and rmperfect1on of mmd, for m all tins there IS rmperfect1on which ~ould cause rum to lose IDS plaoe lll men's hearts.

SECTION VI

174. Concerning th£ Imdmate. AND IT CONTAINS SEVER.<L SUBJECTS FOR DISCUSSION. (1) FIRST, THE IMAMATE IS A UNIVERSAL AUTHORITY (r1yasa) IN THE TIDNGS OF RELIGION AND OF THE WORLD BELONGING TO SOME PERSON AND DERlVED

FROM (myaba) THE PROPHET. AND IT IS NECESSARY (wajib) ACCORDING TO REASON. FoR THE IMAMATE JS A KINDNESS

(from Allah) (lutf), AND WE KNOW ABSOLUTELY THAT WHEN MEN HAVE A CHIEF (ra'is) AND A GUIDE (mursh.td) WHOM THEY OBEY, WHO AVENGES THE OPPRESSED OF HIS OPPRESSOR AND

RESTRAINS THE OPPRESSOR FROM HIS OPPRESSION, THEN THEY

DRAW NEAR TO SOUNDNESS (saJilb) AND DEPART FROM COR· RUPTION. AND WE HAVE SHOWN PREVIOUSLY THAT KINDNESS

IS INCUMBENT UPON AL!.AH ' 175. Tlus IS the discussion of the Imamate, wh.tch follows

Prophecy, and is a branch of It. Now "THF. IMAMATE IS A UNIVERSAL AUTHORITY IN THE THINGS OF RELIGION AND OF

THE WORLD BELONGING TO A PERSON " . . . And Its bemg umversal is the dJVIS!On (fasl) whteh distmgmshes It from the dommwn (wilaya) of judges and vicegerents. And "IN TilE

THINGS OF RELIGION AND OF THE WORLD," explains that to whiCh It appertams. Hence It concerns the world as well as religiOn. And Its BELONGING TO A PERSON calls attentiOn to two matters: first, he who IB worthy of the Imamate IS a person appomted and specitied by Allah and Ills Prophet, not any chance person; and second, It IS not possible that there be more than one mdiVIdual at any one penod who is worthy of it. And some of the learned (fuda!R) hav• added to the defini­tiOn something regardmg 1ts bemg fundamental (ai·I~la), and have said m the defimt.lon of the Imamate that it is a universal authonty in the thmgs of rehgion and of the world belonging to a person by fundamental right. And in this way they guarded agamst a vicegerent (na'Ib) to whom the Imam wonld give universal dominton. And such an authority wonld be

82

THE IMAMATE 63

univemal, but not fundamentally so. But in reahty he would be excluded by the conditiOn of 1t. bemg universal, for the above-mentioned vicegerent would not have authonty over hiB Imam, and hence hiB authority would not be uruversal. And in all this the defirutwn of the J mamate corresponds with that of Prophecy. Hence in tlus case there must be added to 1t the words, " by the nght of vwegerency denved from the Prophet," or " by means of a man " (that IS1 not from Allah d~rect, but through the mediation of the Prophet).

176. Smee thou hast !!rasped thl9, then know that men have disagreed as to whether the Imamate Js mcumbent (waj1b) or not. And the KMnptes say that Jt JS not meum­bent at all And the Ash'ar1tes and Mu'taz1htes say that 1t JS meumbent upon man, but then they chsagree. The Ash'antes say that th1s is known by traditiOn, and the Mu 'tazihtes say (it ts known) by reason And our eompamons the lmdmJtes •ay that It JS mcnmbent upon Allah the Most Htgh by reason, and tlns Js the reahty And the proof of Jts reahty "' that the Imamate JS a kmdness (lutf), and every sort of kmdness Js mcumbent upon Allah the Most H~gh Hence the Imamate IB

mcumbent upon Allah the Mo~t H1gh The maJor premise we have already explamed. And the mmo1 premtse ts that kmdness (lu~f) such as that whwh thou hast known (from our prevt.ous explanation) Is that whwh brmgs the creature near to obedience and keeps htm far from disobedience, and this idea (ma'nii) is realized by the ImB.mate And m explanatiOn of th1s, (we say that) whoever has known dark expenences and has exammed pohtiCal prmmples knows of necess1ty that whenever men have among them a ch1ef and a gmde whom they obey, who restrams the oppressor from hts oppresswn and the unJUSt man from his m]ustwe and avenges the oppressed of hts oppressor, and along w1th that leads them to ratwnal prmCJples and rehgmus duties, and restrams them from the corruptmiiS whtch cause the destructiOn o£ order m thetr worldly affaJrs, and from the evils wlnch result m WI-etchedness in the world to come, so that every indivtdual DJJght fear that puntshment. then because of thiB they Will draw near to soundness and depart from corruptton. And by lmfwe mean

nothing except this. Hence the !mA.mnte is lmf, and that is what we sought.

177. And know that everythmg which proves (dil.iia) that Prophecy lA necessary proves also that the Imamate is neces­sary. For the Imamate Js the successor (klnlMa) of Prophecy and stands in 1ts place (qA'1m maqAmshA), exce-pt in the matter of receiving (talaqql) diVIne msprration (wal)y) without a mediator. And in the same way in which Prophecy is incumbent upon Allah the Most H1gh on philosophiCal grounds, so also is the Imamate.

!78. ~And those who hold that 1t 1s 1ncnft'lbent upon man (khalq) say that 1t IS mcumbent upon them to appomt a ruler to guard the1r persons irom harm, ior guardmg agamst harm 1s mcumbent. And we •ay that we have no quarrel With them as to the Imamate's bemg a protechon from harm and !1.9 to lta bemg mcnrnbopnt. But our quarrel H:! about their saymg that it has been bestowed (tafwi<J) upon men, for m th1s ca.ee there wouid be an actual confhct (between AU&h and men) regardmg the appomtment of Imams, and 1t would result m harm, whereas what 1s sought 1s the decrease of harm. And all thia is also gt..!!L1'ded agaw.st by the fact that. lmmnnity t.o sin 1s a necessary conditiOn (m the Imam), and that lus appomtment (na~) by the Prophet IS necessary.

179. (2) SECOND, TT IS NECESSARY THAT THE IMAM BE

lMM:T_TNE 'f() RIN (ma's{\m); OTR'ERWIRE TJJlilRP. WOULD RE AN

ENDLESS CHAIN. FOR THE NEED WHICH DET\lANDS THE IMAM

18 THE R.ESTRAININO OF THE OPPRESSOR FROM HIS OPPRESSION

AND THE AVENGING OF THE OPPRESSED OF HIS OPPRESSOR.

Now IF IT WERE POSSIBLE FOR HIM TO BE NOT IMMUNE TO

SIN THEN HE WOULD NEED ANOTHER 1M1M~ AND THERE WOULD

BE AN ENDLESS CHAIN, AND THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE. AND ALSO

BECAUSE IF iiE CO?cmH'ITED SUi (:wa'l}iya), AND iF iT WERE

INCUMBENT UFON MEN TO DISAPPROVE OF HIM, HE WOULD

LOSE HIS PLACE IN MEN'S HEARTS, AND THE VALUE OF HIS

APPOINTJIENT WOULD BE NULLIFIED. AND IF IT WERE NOT

NECIISIIARY (that he be immune to Sill), THE COMMAND TO DO

WHAT 1S .&.rc-AOVED BY ALL1i£ (al·ma,',.~f) .U.V THE rna-

THE IMAMATE 65

BIBITION AGA.JNST WHAT IS DISAPPROVED (al-munkar) WOULD CEASE TO BE INCUMBENT, AND THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE. AND

ALSO BECAUSE HE IS THE GUARDIAN OF THE LAW, IN WIDCH O.ASE HE MUST BE IMMUNE TO SIN IN ORDE~ THAT IT BE SAFE

FROM ADDITION OR LOSS, AND ALSO BECAUSE OF THE WORD OF THE MOST HIGH, " MY COVENANT EMBRACETH NOT THE

EVILDOERS" (2: II8). 180. When he had proved that the Imamate is necessary he

began to explam the qualtttes whtch constitute the necessary condition for the vabdtty of the Imamate. And among them ts immumty to sm, the meamng of wlueh thou hast come to know. Now there IS a dtfierence of opm10n as to Its being a necessary con<ht10n ill the Imam. Our compamons the Twelvers and the lama 'lhtes have cons1dered It a necessary condition, as opposed to the other sects (firaq). And the author sought to estsbbsh the behef (madbhab) of our com· pamons by several proofs:

181. (1) Fll'St, tf the Imam were not 1mnmne to sm, then tt would be necessary for the number of Imams to be WJthout ltmtt. And that wlueh IS neceooitated ts !alae, henee that wluch necesSitates tt "' false also. And m explanatiOn of th1s necessity-we have already explamed the call.Se whtch makes us need an Imam, that ts, the restrammg of the oppressor from Ius oppresston, and the avengmg of the oppressed of his oppressor, and the leadmg of the people to that m wlueh therr sonn<htess (\!Slah) cons1sts and turmug them away from that which results ill their corruptiOn. Then 1! he were not l!Dmune to sm there would be need of another Imam who would restram !urn from Ius error (khat;a). And we transfer the dJBcUBSJOn to that other Imam. Then tt would be necessary for the number of Imams to be Without hnnt, and that ts false.

182. (2) If he we:re not Immune to sm, then sm would be possible (Ja'Iz) for htn1. J.et us suppose that he colDlllitted sin. Then m tlue case the:re would have to follow erthe:r the ioBB of the value of hts appomtment, or the nullifymg (suqil.j.) of lue command to do what IS approved and h1s prolubition of what IS disapproved. And that wlueh IS necess.ttated IS false m both 1ts parts. Hence that wluch necessitates it is £alae

5

AL-IIABU 'L-:t;t:!J>t 'ASHAR

also. And in explanation of the necessity (we say that) whenPver he commite sin It IS either (a) incumbent upon men to cbsapprove of him, or (b) 1t is not. From the first alternative (a) It would necessarily follow that he would lose his place in men's hearte, and that after bemg a commander (amir) he would have to become obedient to commands (ma'mi'lr), and after being a prohibitor he would have to heed the prohibitions (of others). And m such a case the value sought for in his appomtment, namely, the elevation of his place m men's hearte and their obedience to his commands and prohibitions, would be lost. And from the second alternative (b) It would neces­sarily follow that his command to do what IS approved and his prohibitiOn of what IS disapproved would become non-meum· bent, and that IS false by the agreement of all.

183. (~) Third, he IS the gnardmn of the law, and It IS mcumbent that everyone who IS such be Immune to sm (a) Fmt, because the guardian of the law llllght be either the Book (the Koran), or muta1.!1&tr tradition (that which has come down m a number of mdependent unbroken hnes), or agreement (ai·IJmil'), or fundamental absolutiOn (al-baril'atu'J. ashyya-e.g., when a Mushm ISm doubt as to whether Ramadan IS over or not be can pass JUdgment m his own mmd that 1t IS over and proceed to break the fast), or reasomng (q1yas), or trruhtwn that has come down m a smgle lme (khabarn'l· wilh1d), or wtw/ldb (when one IS m doubt as to whether some­thmg that was clean has become unclean or not, be has the nght to say, "I decree (hukm) that tb1s ts cle11n "-this " ut .. /ldb). And no one of these 1s proper (silhh) for gnardmg the law. The Book and tradition are not, because they do not contam (wafi) all the commandments (ahkam), alf.hough m every situatiOn Allah has a command whiCh 1t •• mcumbent to know (tahsil) And agreement (IJnta') IS not, for two reasons first, 1t ts unable to meet most situations, although AlJah has a command for (each of) them, and second, on the suppos1t10n of the non-existence of one Immune to sm, there "' m agreement no convmcmg proof (bnJja). Hence agree­ment is unprofitable, beeause of the poSSibility of error m every individual of th•m, and so in aJI of them. And Allah the Most

THE Iiti.AMATE 67

High pomts to the poss1bility of error in all of them in His word, " If he d1e, therefore, or be slain, will ye turn upon your heels !" (3: 138 ). And the Prophet s1ud, " Beware iest aiter me you refer your affa1rs to unbebevers " (namely, Abu &Ia, etc.). And tlus address 1s not dttected to any except those to whom error is absolutely p0'1....s1ble. (Thnt !!!, :m case there 1s

no Imam who 1s ma'¥Jm, It •• poss1ble for the agreement of believers to resuit m error.) For man JS not forbidden to iiy to the sky, because It 1s absolutely 1mposs1ble for lum to do so.

184. And fundamental absolutiOn 1s not able to guard the 1 .. -nT 'h..o.roana.o. 1+. 'l'nnn,no,~;~. +.h~ 1'Arnov,;a.l hrhFfl.'\ nf rnnRt. nf t;h,. .u.•n, vvv...,..,..,..., ,.., ...... "1-~~~- ¥-- ---- ·-- ,------1 -- ---- -- ---commandments of the law. And 1t may be said t.hat what IS

fundamental (al-a~) IS the absolutJOn oi man from the obhga~ twn (dlumma) of what 1s mcumbent and forb1dden And the three remammg (namely, qtyds, klutbaru'l-wdk•d, and tsltfklib) all are ahke m pla.c.mg 1mport.rme.e upon ~uppos.It.IOn (a.7.r-Za.nn), and suppos1t10n espemally giVes no sat1Pfactory knowledge of reahiy And the proof for the reJectmn of q~yd.s 1s estab­liShed, because our Ia w :s bmlt upon the d1fference m thmgs that agree (mnttafiqat), such as the mcumbence of fastmg on the last day of the mont.h of R~.m~tilil.n ancl lt.R hemg forh.u:lden on the first of (the followmg month) Shawwdl, and the agree­ment m thmgs that dr:ffer, suuh a~:~: th~ oblrgat10u to utakr ablutwn from both urmc and stools, and the agreement of both acCidental murder and z<Mr m requttmg atonement (ka:ff&.ra.) ('/t't,hfi.-r lR wlu~n a man says to hts wtfe~ "you are as my mother to me " He then has to make atonement before ethe becomes lawful to luw agu.m) Not only so, but the Lawg1ver cut off the hand of the petty th1ef but not of one who stole large sums (gha~1b), and he scourged men for accusmg people fa1Rely of adultery and made four female wttnesseA necessary for It, but not for blasphemy (knfr). And all of tlm~ pceulud~ qiyds. And the Prophet of Alillh ha.s 6a.id, " .After me tlus people will act some by the Book and some by trad1t10n and some by q1ylls, and whenever they do thus then they have gone astray, and have led astray (others), and nothing remams to be the guardJ.an of the law except the IwA:w.'' And that is wha.t we sought. And the 1\fost High

68 AL-llABU 'L-J;!ADl 'ASHAR

Creator has indicated this by His word, " But if they would report them to the MeBBenger, and to thoee who are in authority among them (that is, the hruims), those who desire information would learn it from them" (4: 85)-• (b) Second, since he is the guardian of the law (he must be immune to sm), for if he were not immune to sm there would be no security against addition and loss and change and mterchange m the law.

(4) Fourth, everyone who •• not 1mmune to sm 1s unjust (~bm), and nothing unjust 1s proper for the Imamate. Hence no one who is not unmune to sin 1s fit for the Imamate. And the nunor premise is true because an unJust person IB one who places anytlnng m a s1tuat10n other than 1ts own, and one who 1s not immune to sm •• thus. And the maJor prem1se 18 true because of the word of the Most H1gh, " My covenant embraceth not the eVJldoe1s " (2 · n8). And the meanmg of " covenant " 1s the covenant of the In:tamate, for the verse pomts to that.

186. (3) TJDRD, IT IS NECESSARY THAT TilE I!.ti.M BE

8PECIFIED (mansfr~) FOR (the ImaiUSte), BECAUSE IMMUNITY

TO SIN IS A MATTER OF THE HEART WHICH NO ONE PERCEIVES

BUT ALLAH THE MOST HIGH. HENcE THE SPECIFICATION

MUST BE HADE BY ONE WHO KNOWS THAT THE miM HAS THE

IMMUNITY TO SIN (necessary) FOR IT, OR SOME MIRACLE

(mu'JIZa) MUST BE WROUGHT BY IDS HAND TO PROVE HIS

VEFAOITY. (That is, the In:tam must be appomted by Allah, not by the people.)

187. ThlB IS a reference to the way of appomtmg the Imam. And agreement has been reached that m appomtmg the Imam the speclficat10n can be made by Allah and His Prophet, or by a previous Imam m an mdependent way (without the voice of the people). And venly the disagreement is as to whether or not h18 appomtment (ta'yin) can be in a way (sabab) that 18 other than specification (~) (by Allah and the Prophet). And our companions the Im&mites deny that absolutely, and say that there is no way except na,. For we have explained that immunity to sm is a necessary condition of the Imamate. And unmunity to sin is a hidden

UY

matter, and no one is informed of it except AllAh. Hence m such a case no one can know in whom it is (to be found), uniess l:ie who knows the unseen (al-ghayb) make it known. And that oomes about in two ways: (1) first, by making it known to someone immune to sin, such as the Prophet, and then he tells us of the Im!m's immuniV; to sin and of his appomtment (ta'yin), (2) second, by the appearance of miracles wrought by ius hand tc prove hts veraruty m ciaunmg the Imamate.

188. And the Sunnites say that whenever the people (umma) a.chowle~ae any person as ch1ef (baya.'at), and are conv-i...nced of his ab!ltty (!Btt'dad) for 1t (the Imamate), and ius powe1 mcreases m the regions (khitat) oi ishim., he becomes the Imim. And the Zayd1tes say that any rattonal ascetic Faviimte who comes forth w1th the •word and c!auns the Imamate 1s the Imft.m.. ). nd the. reahty 1s contrary t.o all of tlmz, for two reasons· first, the Imamate 1s a success1on (klulafa) from Allah and ffis Messenger, and 1t cannot be acqmred except by the word of them both; and second, the c•tabl!Blung of the Imamate by acknowledgmg anyone as clue! and by h1s clallll to It would re.snlt 1n con-Au~t. (fitna), becau_:Q8 of the proba'tnhty that every party would acknowledge some ddferent person as Jlllliw, or that every mtwnal F8.tnn1te would clallll the Imamate, and then fightmgs and struggles would result.

189. (4) FOURTH, IT IS NECESSARY 'I'IU'I' Tl'l" Uof.h! Ill'

ABSOLUTELY THE BEST (af<;J.al) OF THE PEOPLE, BECAUSE OF

W""'.a.AT HA.S BEEN SAID ABOVE ~EGARDING THE :PROP:tuil'l'

190. It lB necessary (waJtb) that the Imam be the best of the people of hlB age, becalL<e he takes precedence over (muqaddam) all. And if there were 8lllong them one better than he then the worse (maf<;l.ill) would have to take pre­ced.cnoo :y;er the better, a.:u.d that would be evil (qa.h~) according to reason and tradition. And th1s has been already explained in (the section on) Prophecy (par. 170).

191. (5) FIETH, THE IHA>I AFI'ER THE "MESSENGER OF ALLAH

IS 'J.Lt B. A.B1 T!LID, (1) BECAUSE OF HIS SPECIFICATION (Ii.iioft)

70 AL-BA!!U 'L-~i 'ASHAR

'UTU'Tro'D' D'J.I3 ................ Tv"> ............. ...-..T C..,'n"'"'''Pio~T ,. ............................. ~..,.., {,_.,.,,._,... ,,...,....,.u, .........,u ....,....,........, ._,.._..~ .... J. .. 'l ~1'.110~ J::!.IIOJO:A.DAJ..IIO ~'l.ll.OO \&.I.I.U. .. cv-

w&tir) l!'JIOM THE PROPHET. AND (2) BECAUSE HE IS THE

BEST OF THE PEOPLIC OF HIS AGE, BY TBE WORD OF TBE MOST

HIGH, "OUEBELVES AND YOUBSELVES" (3: 54), AND THE

EQUAL OF THE BEST IS THE BEST, AND BECAUSE OF THE

(mubllhaJa). AND (3) BECAUSE IT IS NECESSARY (Wa]lb) FOB

THE IMAM TO BE IMMUNE TO SIN, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE

BESIDE HIM OF TBOSE WHO CLAI!ol THE lMA!o!ATE WHO IS IlolloiUNE

TO SIN, BY THE AGREEMENT OF ALL. HENCE HE IS THE IMAM.

AND (4) BECAUSE !'-E !S THE MOST KNO"WntG (a"lru:n), FOR TP...E

COliPANIONS CONSULTED mM ABOUT THEIR PROBLEMS, AND

HE DID .NUT CONSULT ANY ONE OF THEM; AND BECAUSE OF THE

WORD OF THE PROPHET (UPON HIM AND HIS DESCENDANTS BE

PEACE!), " 'ALl IS THE BEST OF YOUR JUDGES (aqQ.B)," AND

JUD(JM'Ii!N.'T REQU!!t..EB lrllfOWT~DGE, AND (5) BECAUSE !!E IS

MORE ASCETIC THAN ANY ONE ELSE, SO THAT HE DIVORCED

THE WORLD THR.I!;~ 'l'IME.S.

192. When he finiShed the condJt10ns of the Im&mate he began on the appointment of the Im&m. And men have differed regardmg that. And some AA y tbt t.he Imil,m after the Messenger of Allah was al·'Ahbas b. 'Abdu'l-Muttahb, beca.uae he was lu.8 heir. AnU the wunu;uue of !riUHliw~ say that he was AbU Bakr b. AbU QuhMa, because the people chose him. And the Shi'1tes say that he was 'Ali b. Abi T&hb because of the appomtment (na~~) whiCh came down duect to hlm (mutawatrr) from All&h and Ills Messenger, and that is the reality. And the author has prov.;od 'Ali's :r1ght 1n several ways: (1) Fu:st, that consecutive trad1tlon frcm the word of the Prophet wruch the Shi'1tes quote regardmg the right of 'Ali, by wruch certam knowledge can be obtamed, namely, "Greet h1m as the erne£ of the believers" (bl-lmrati'l­mu'nnntn), and, " Thou art the successor (kh.allia.) a£4-...er me," and other such words which prove what we sought Hence he is the Im&m, and that is what we sought.

193. (2) Second, he is the best of men after the Messenger of God.• Then he is the Im&m, because it would be evil for the worse to take prooed€'nce over tho bet"~. .And he is

'li

+he beet for two reasons: (a) fL~t, he ia equal to the Prophet. And the prophet IS the best (af9aJ), hence his equal IS also the best, otherwise he wonid not be equal to him. And he is his equal because of the word of the Most H1gh, in the verse of " cursmg one another " (3 : 54), " and ourselveR and you..-rselves."b _4._nd t'he m.te:ntwn (:mu...~d) m "ourselves" 1e 'All b. Abl Tahb, "" 1s proved by sound tradition. And Without doubt the mteniwn IS not that his seif (nais) IS 'Aii's self. because umon {Itt1hiid) IS false. Hence Ius mtentmn IS "hke him" and u equal to h1m," as 1t 1s satd, " Zayd 1s as a hon," that IS, 1a l!ke hm1 m bravery. And smce he !8 equal to him he IS the best, and that was what we sought.

i94. (b) Second, 1n the H cursmg one another (mCldent) the Prophet had need of him, and of no one else of the oom­pamons and kmdred, m Ius prayer. And he who was needed 1s bett-er than anyon€" e.lse, espe('u~Jly m thof.l.e great evenig (that 1s, the debate with the Chn•tians of NaJran) whwh are among the bas~s and ioundatlons of (the vahd1ty oi h1sj Prophecy.

195. (3) Tlurd, It IS necessary for the Imam to be Immune to sm _And no one for whom the. ImO_mat.e. IS churned 1s

1mmune to sm except 'All Hence no one but lum IS Imam. Now the mmor premise has already been explamed. And the maJor prenuse IS true, because all are agreed that 'Abbiis and Ab11 Bakr were not Immune to sm. Hence It comes about tha,t he 1s the TmR.m. OthAJ"WJSe agreement. wouJd have to be nnihfied If we establiShed rmmumty from sm for anyone except hun, ur el~ the age would have to be qwt of any Imam who was Immune to sm, and both (alternatives) are false.

19fi. (4) Fourth, he IS the most knowing of men after the Messenger of Allah, henre he 1s the Imam. Now he lB the mot~t knowing for several reasons· (a) fir"St, he was lllighty (shadld) m surm1se (hads) an<l sagae1ty (dhaka) and m desire (l,ur') for learmng, and he was t.he conetant compamon of the Prophet, who was absolutely perfect after Allah the Most High, and had a m~ghty love for him and a desire to teach huu. And whenever these quaht1es aTe uruted m a person

AL-BAl!u 'L-I;IADl 'ASHAR

it is n""""""'Y (rijib) that he be more knowing than anyone else besides that teacher, and that is seH-evident.

197. (b) Second, the greatest of the doctors among the Compamons and the Successors (tAb1'!n) used to consult hnn about the problems winch they met and to take h1s word, and to refer to lum contrary to their own opmwns (IJtlhad), and tins IS explamed m the books of h.Jstory and bwgraphy

198. (c) Third, all the masters of the arts (funllu) and SCiences ('uiilm) refer to lum. For the commentators take the word of lbn 'Abbas, and he was one of 'All's disciples, as he sa~d, " 'All explamed for me the bd m bwmll4h from the beginnmg to the end of the mght." And the masters of scholastic theology go to h1m-the Mu 'tazihtes, m that they refer to AbU 'Ali al-Jubba't, and he m matters of knowledge refers to AbU H,;.,.bim b. Muhammad b. al-J;Ianafiyya, and he refers to his father 'All, and the Ash'antes, because they refer to Abu'l-l;Iasan al-Ash'arl, and he was the rusciple of AbU 'All al-Jnbbii'i, and the Imilnutes, whoae I't'ference to 'Alt IS evident. And 1f there were nothing else except h1s word (kahun) m "Nahju'l-Balagha " and other books m which are recorded discussions of diVm1ty, the Unity and Justice aud Destmy (qada) and Decree (qadar), and the manner of progress on the way to Allah (suli\k) and the degrees of real knowledge, and the prmc1ples of oratory and the ruie.s of eloquence and other SCiences, there wouid be in it enough to satiSfy one who cons1ders and to warn one who thinks. As for the masters of JuriSprudence, the reference of the chief of the mujtahUls of the vanoua sects to the d!scrples of 'All is well known. And h1s wonderful deciSions m Juris­prudence are mentwned m their own place, such as his dec1sion m the 8ftau of the man who had sworn that he wouid not loose the chain of Ius slave that (the other man) might giVe its weight in silver.

[A certem man saw 8 slave w1th 8 cham on Ius feet, and vowed to giVe the weight of the cham m s1lver to the poor If the owner wouid loose him. The owner refused to take off the chain, and the man rod not know how to ascertain the weight of it so that he couid pay his vow. 'All told

7S

him t.o put the slave's feet in a basin of wat-er, then lift the chamB up out of the water, and put m enough silver to make the wat-er rree to where 1t was before.]

Also his decision in the matter of the owner of the loaves of bread (who did not know how to d1vide them equitably), and so forth..

199. (d) Fourth, the word of the Prophet regardmg him, " 'AU is the best JUdge of you an.. Now It lB well known that judgment (qada) has need of many smences. Hence ·Ali 1s master of them all.

200. (e) F1fth, the word of 'Ali, "If a cushwn be placed for me and I s1t upon 1t, then I w!ll Judge (hukm) among the people of the Taw1·at according to then Trtwr&t, and among the people of the Furqan accordmg to the1r Furqan, and among the people of the In]il accordmg to theu ln]il, and among the people of the Zabftr accordmg to thCJr Zabilr. By Allah, there 1s no verse that has descended by rught or by day, In the plam or on the mountain, w1thout my knowmg upon whom 1t has descended and regardmg what 1t has descended." And tlus proves ills mastery (Uulta) of all the dJ.vme sCiences. And smce he 1s the most knowmg he 1s therefore the one appomted for the Imli.mate, and that IS

what was sought. 201. (5) He 1s the most ascetiC of men after the Prophet

of Allah. Hence 1t comes about that he IS the Imam, for the most ascetw IS the best. And as for h1s bemg the most ascetic, we must examme ills words (kalam) regard1ng asceti­Cism (z-uh.d), and lus sermons and coilllllands and prohjb1tmn.s, and ills sbunnmg the world, the ev1dences of whwh are marufest in h1m (not m word but m deed), so that he divorced the world three t1mes.

[The world came to htm m the form of a beautiful mcuden, and he pronounced the tr1ple formula. of divorce, thereby makmg her unlawflli for rum.]

And he shunned worldly pleasures of food and drmk and raiment, and he was not known by anyone to be entangled in anything worldly. He even used to Jock up his vessel of bread, a.nd when they asked him about that, hr said, H I

AL·B.UIU 'L-ij.Al)i 'ASHAR

fear lest one of my clilldren should put in it some butte...~d bread." And t.he fact tltat he distnbuted Ins own food and Ius family's food to the poor and the orphans and the prisoners is a suffiCient proof of Ius ascetiCism. And a verse of the Koran descended regardmg that, proving hiS excellence and l:ua unmunity to sm.

20'~. AND THE PROOFS OF THIS CANNOT BE NUJIIBEBED FOR

MULTITUDE.

203. The proofs of the Imamate of 'Ali are more than can be numbered, so that the author composed a book on the Imamate and named It "Kltabu'l-Alfayn" and mentiOned m It two thousand proofs ior ins Imamate. And a muit1tude of the doctors have composed so many treat1ses on this subject (fann) that It IB Imposs1ble to encompass them, but we will mentwn here eom.e of them to e..~alt and bless h!m. by rememb~r­mg Jus excellences. And they are of several sorts (1) Frrst, the word oi the Most H1gh, " Y erily your protector (wali) 18

Allah and His Messenger, and those who beheve, who observe prayer, and pay the alms of obbgat10n, and who bow m wo!'Blnp" (5 6o). And (the. understanding of that) dependa on several prelmnnanes (muqaddamat). (a) First, the lexicographers say that veruy tmnama) 1s to restnct (hlll/1') the meanmg. The poet said, " I am a protector, a helper, a brave man, vmly either I or one hke me will defend theu rela.t.1ve.s.'' And 1f th1s 11e:r1-ly dl(l not restrict the mea.nmg, then his boast would not be fulfilled (b) Second, by walt the mtentmn is e1ther the worihu~t io cxmirul (al-awW. b1't~t~arrui) or the helper (an-nil~), smce m thts place absolutely no other of the meanmgs (of wall) ts sound. But the second meanmg (namely, thP. MlpP.r) lR here fst.l~'\ hP.ca.nAA hAlp rloAR not hAlong excluSively to those two (Alhi.h and HIS Messenger). Hence the fu&t (w.eauing) is tSiugled out. (c) Thud. th~ u.dd.rt2:1~ tH

to believers, for what immediately precedes is, " 0 ye who believe, should any of you desert Jus rehgton" (5: 59). Then He says, "Verily your wali IS AILih and His Messenger." Hence the pronoun (your) applies m truth to them (believers). (d) Fow.~J:i, the intention by " 0 ye who believe " m the veree

76

is sow..e of the heheve..Pf!, for two reasons: first, if 1t were not thus, then every md1VIdual behever would become W<ilJ m his own person m the mee.nmg ment10ned (S<'e (a)), and that is false; and second, the description whwh he gave of them does not apply to all of them, that 1s, the gmng of alms wh1l• 1n the state of bowmg m worsh1p (rn]...,.J.'), smce the phras( expre88es a state of being (hil.hyya). (e) F1fth, the mtentwn by this some IS ;Aii b. Abi lihb excius1vely, because of sound tra<htwn and the agreement of most of the commentatol"l! that wlule he was praying a beggar begged hun for somethmg, o.nd he gave l11m ills s1gnet nng wh!le he was bowed m worsh!p. And since' Ali IS the worthiest to control among us, he 10 smgled out to he the imam For by Imam we do not mean anythmg except th1s.

204. (2) S•cond, a mutawclt.r traditiOn hM be•n handed down that when the Prophet. ret.urned from t.hc farewell piigrunage to Mecca he commander! them to ahght at the Pool (ghadir) oi Khum at noon And the loads (of the camels) were placed for hun m the form of a pulpit Anu he addressed the people and called for 'Ali and hfted him up with his hand and Bttld; "0 peopl~, am I not bett.e:r (awla) for you t.hnn your own souls?" They sa1d, "Yea, 0 Prophet of Allah t" ne sa1d, «Let whoever UWilli IUe at> h.us um~Wr (mawhl) own this 'Ali a.s h1s master. 0 Allah, belnenrl (wah) whoever befriends hun and hate whoever hates h1m, and help whoever he1ps 'Ali and forsake whoever forsakes ]um} and compass lllm w1th reality as he goes about I" And he repeated that to them thr~e tlllie."l. And the mtentwn Ill mawl4 1s awl4 (the better), because the first of the narrative, " Am I not better for you (awla biirum) ~·· mdwates that And in the worrl of the Most High regardmg th~ unbelievers (57: 14), " Your abode the fire '-Tlus shall he your maste1 (maw­lik-wn)," the mea.nmg ;s, "lt is better for you (awla. bik-u.m)." And also It is not pD88Ihle here for maw/4 to have any other meanmg, such as neighbour (a.l-jar) or releaser of a slave (mu'tiq) or ally (l}allf) or nephew, for it 18 impo88ible that the Prophet should stand in that tune of excessive heat and ca.Il the people and inform them of things which diCl not have

76 AL-BABU 'L-IJADI 'ASHAR

UIUJ great value for them, sucl::i. as that whoever was hh neii(hbour or the releaser of hie slave, etc., was 'Ali's likewise. And smce 'Ali is the best (awla) among us he is the Imam.

205. (3) Third, a mUlawlitl.r trad1t10n (na~J~) has come down to us that the Prophet s111d to 'All, "Thou hast (rece1ved) the same poa1twn from me which H&rfin hu.d from MUs&., except that there IS no prophet after me." He confuma for h1m, therefore, all the degrees (marattb) whtch Hdriin had from Musa, and he excepts prophecy. Now one of the pos1ttons which Hdriin rece1ved from Milsa was that of be1ng ills successor (khallia), although he died before hun. And 'All lrved a£1-...cr the Messenger of Allah. Hence h1s successiOn 1s established, smce there 1s nothmg to cause his displacement (zawi>l).

206. (4) Fourth, the word of the Most Htgh, " 0 ye who beheve 1 obey Allah and obey the Messenger, and those among you 1nvest-ed vnth authonty" (1 62}. ..A...nd by "those mvested With authority " the intentiOn 1s e1ther one who IS

known to be Immune to sm, or It IB not. The second alterna­tive IS false by agreement, because 1t IS rmposs1ble that Allah ahould command absolute obed1ence to one to whom error 19. poss1ble. Hence th.e t1"8t !S S!.!lgled out. Hence 1t comes about that he 1s 'Ali b. Abi Tahb (upon rum be peace 1), smce iwwumty to sm was not clauned ior anyone except hun and ills descendants. Hence they are the ones mtended, and that IS what was sought. And true deduction •• contamed exactly m the word of the Most High, "Behevers I fea.r Allah and be With the smcere (as~d1qln)" (9: 120).

207. (5) Fifth, he clal.Iiled the Iw.Uwat.e, H.nd nuracles were wrought by ills hand, and whoever IB hke that lB veracious m lus cl~~~m. Now that he clarmed the Imamate 1s evident, and the records of his words and complarnts and quarrels are well known from the books of biography and history, so that when he saw that they had deserted hiiD he sat dow A ill his house and busied h1mself with collectmg the Book of the Lord (the Koran). And when they sought him to acknow­ledge him as their chief he refused. Then thev kindled a fixe in his house and forced him to go out. And his sermon entitled S.~u;ehT'ilYa in "Nahju'l-Ba.l&gha" will a-llffioo to

THE i.MAM.ATE 77

make thee aware of hm complaint m th1s matter, • .o\nd the miracles wrought by his hand were many. Among them are the removmg oi the gate of Khaybar,• and conversmg w1th ravenous beasts on the pulp1t of Kilfa, and the hfting up of a great stone from the mouth of the well when the army could not remove 1t, and m.akmg the :mn to go back so that It returned to 1ts place m the heavens, and others whiCh cannot be numbered. And every one who 1s hke that IS

veracious (sad1q). Hence he IS vera~JOus, because of what has been previously sa1d regarding Prophecy.

208. (6) 81x+..h, e1ther the Prophet appomted (na~~) an Imam, or he d1d not. The second alternative IS false, for two reasons. (a) Fuot, the appomtment oi an Imam IS In­

cumbent upon h1m, to perfect rehg10n and to appoint Its guardian And 1f the Messenger of Allah had failed to do that he would have falled m domg wh"t was mcumhent (waJib). (b) Second, smce h1s (Muhammad's) compassion and iovmgkmdness for the mukall'ifin and ins care for the1r advantage was so great that he taught them the places of purmcat10n (IStmJa) and 1mpunty (Janaba) and other tinng• wh!P.h are. of fur less nnportane-e than t.h.e Imd.mat.e, !t· !S rmposs1ble that m ins Wisdom and 1mmiJn1ty to sm he should not speedy ior them h1m whom they should consult m then problems and m their pnvate affairS and m their needs. Hence the first (alternat1ve-that he appomted an Imam) is amgled out (as true), ). nd the mass of the people ,_hd not cla1m that anyone had been appcmted except 'Ali and AbU Ba.kr. Hence 1t follows that the one appomted was e1ther 'Ali or Abu Bakr. And the second alternat1ve 1s false, hence the first IS smgled out.

209. Now the second (alternative) 1s fat.e for several reasons. (a) Fnst, If AbU Bakr was the one appomted, then the dependence of .Ius au.thunty on. the acknowled.g:went (hay'a) of the people was sm and an 1mpugnmg of the Imiim­ate. (b) Second, 1f he was the one appomted, then he would have mentwned that, and would have claimed It at the time when the people acknowledged him, or after 1t, or before 1t, oillce "there ia no 'lf7 (attar) ar.~ver 'Ar:la a dead" (said by a

78 AL-BABU 'L-:!):ADi 'ASHAR

wife when her husband ~Arls died). But he d1d not clam1 it, hence he was not the one appointed. (c) Third, if he was the one appomted then hia IU!kmg to be excused irom the successiOn, when he said, " Excuse me, I am not the best of you when 'Ali 18 among you," was a great sin, for it would have been. a !'ejectwn of .A.l!S.h and H1e Messenger. Hence 1t would have impugned h1s Imamate (d) Fourth, If he had been the one appomted he wouid not have been m doubt at his death as to h1s worthiness of the successwn. But he was in doubt, so that he sa1d, " 0 that I had asked the Messenger whether 1n th!s matt-er the r1ght was. w1th the Ansks or not'" (e) F1fth, 1f he was the one appomted, the Messenger of Allah would not have commanded hun to go out with the army of Usama b Zayd. For the Messenger of Allah was ill, and Ins soul had warned h1m of death, so that he sud, "My soul warns me of my death, and! am about to be taken, bec-ause J1br.8.'il used to present h1mself to me w1th the Koran once every year, and th1s year he presented himself to me with 1t tw1ce.'' And 1f th1s were the sttuatwn and the Imam were Abu Bakr, then he would not have commanded hrm not to remam behmd Us.9_.m1't But he urged ~_.11 to go out, 3.nrl hA cnrseci ».11 who should stay behmd h1m, and he found fault w1th them when they remamed behmd them (/) B1xth, 1f there 1~ no one except 'All among those for whom the Imamate 1s claimed who 1s fit for 1t, then he IS s1ngled out for 1t And the first statement 1s true because they were all unJust (zahm) because of the1r preVIous unbelief, accordmg to the word of the Most Hl!lh, '' ?;{y covenant em.braceth not eVIl doers" (2· rr8)

210. TH•N AFTER HIM HIS SON AL-HASAN, THEN AL·HUSAYN,

THEN 'ALi B AL-HUSAYN, THEN MUHAMMAD B 'ALi AL-BAQIR,

A.L-Kl.ZIM, THEN 'ALt B. MUSA AR·RinA, THEN MU:ij:AMMAD

B. •ALi: A.L-JAWAD, THEN 'ALI B. MUHAMMAD AL-IIADl, THEN

AL·IJA.s.AN B. 'ALi AL-'ASKARI, THEN MUHAMAD B AL-HASA.N

THE LORD OF THE AGE (~!HIBU'z-ZA.M!N)-THE BLESSING OF

J.I.L!H BE LTPON THEM 1 BECAUSE E..o!..CH ONE OF THEM WHO

PRECEDED APPOINTED illS SUCCESSOR, AND BECAUSE OF TIIIJ

PRECED!NO PROOFS.

211. When he had finished esta.blish~ .... g the ImAmate of 'Ali he began to establish the Imamate of the ImAms who were steadfast m authority after him. And the prooi of that is of several kinds: (l) First, the appointment (ll8Sil) of the Prophet (Allah bless h1m, etc.) And concernmg this is his word t.o !J:usayn, " This IS my son !Jusayn, an Imam, the eon of an Imam, the brother of an Imam, the father of mne Imams, the nmth of them bemg the one of them who shall ariSe (al-qa'1m) and the greatest (afdal) of them." And agam (there 1s) that whwh J.ibu b. 'Abdu'llah the Ansari related. He sa1d, " When the word o£ the Most H1gh descended, ' 0 ye who believe I obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those among you mvested w1th authonty' (4· 62), I sa1d, '0 Messenger of Allah, we know Allah and obey H1m, and we know thee and obey thee, but who are tlwse tnvested W?th authomy whom Al!!lh has commanded us to obey 'l' He eatd, ' 0 Jlibtr, they are my successors and the possessors of authority after me The first oi them IS ~Ali, then after h1m IS h1s son al­I,Iasan, then al-I,Iusayn, then 'AI! b al-I,Iusayn, then Muham­mad b 'Ali (and you w1ll soon see h1m, 0 Jab1r, and when you aee hm1 then g1ve hun my greetmgs), then Ja'far b Muhammad~ then Musii b Ja'far, then 'Ali b Miisii ar-R1dii, then Muham­mad b (Ali ai-Jawad, then (Ali b 1¥1uhammad, then al-~asan b. 'AI!, then Muhammad b a!-Hasan (he Will fill the earth w1th eqtuty and Justwe JUst as 1t 1s (now) full of mJustlee and opp:ress10n) ':'

212 And agam (there 1s) that whwh has been related from the Prophet, that he sa1d that Alllih chose Fnday from among the days, and the month Ramadan from among the months, and the mght of qadr from among the mghta. And He chose t,hP. p1'ophets from among mankmd, and He chose the Mes­sengers from among the prophets, and He chose me from among the messengers, and He chose 'Ali from me, and He chose al-I,Iasan and al-I,Iusayn from 'AI!, and He chose from ai-I,Insayn h1s executors (aWf!IJ&), who are nme of bJs de­scendants, who should prevent the errmg from leadmg others astray from their rehgwn, and the destroyers from malong their profesa10n, a.nd the l.gnora.nt :L-om mte,L J:'retmg.

213. (2) Second, the appointment by each. one of them of his sncceoaor, which has come to na by mutawdtir traditions, which are too many to be numbered. And the ~tes have related tradlt10ns regarding their succession (taba.qat) whwh are contradictory.

214. (3) T.hi..~, 1t is neeessa...ry that the !m§.m be 1:mmune t-o sm, and there 1!! no one besides them who is llilDlnne to sm. Hence no one besides tbem IS an Imiim. The expianat10n oi the first statement has been already g:tven. And the second statement IS true by agreement that m the t1me of each one of them i!!!.!n.unity t.o s1n was not cla1med for anyone except them. Hence they are the Imams.

2io. (4) Fourth, they are better than anyone else oi tbe people of therr t1me, as IS !mown from the books of bwgraph y and lustory. Hence they are the Imams, because 1t would be ev!l for the wo:rs.e to take p:reeedenee over the better.

216. (5) Fifth, each one of them churned the Imamate, and ID.ll'acles were wrought by his hand. Hence he IB the Imam. And the explanatiOn of thlS has preceded, and the ImallUtes have related the1r miTacles m theu books . .And. the!'e IS a book for thee re.ga..rdmg this~ "Khari.'I]n'l­Jara'•h (?)" of ar-Rawandi, and other books also on thlS same subject.

217. A matter of importance-the Twelfth Imam •• ahve and eXIstent (maw]lld) from the t!Dle of Ius birth (256 A.H.), to the end of the pe.rwd. of t.akl~f- For m every a.ge t.here mllBt• be an Imam llilDlnne to sm, because the proofs are nn1versal ('umfun), and beside hun there IS no one Immune to s1n. Hence he 18 the Imam. And the thought that 1t 1!! unlikely that anyone like lum should remain ahve 1!! false, for 1t IS poSBlble, e.spema.lly smoo It has ocm_trred m previous tJmes to the fortunate (as·sn'ada) and the unfortunate (al-ashq•yil) (the saved and the lotst) to live lon.ger than he has hvOO. .A.ud the cause of hlB bemg Iudden IS e1ther some advantage which Allah has kept to Hunself, or else the number of enellUes and the paumty of helpers. For m view of the WIBdom of the Most High and the Imam's llilDlnnity to am 1t 18 !Dlpossible that .A118.h's kindnees (lu\;f) be hmdered. Heuw it is becauoe of

THE L'IAMATE 81

someone else (that is, the enmity of men), and that is what was sought.

218. 0 All&h, hasten lus joy, and cause us to behold his VIctory, and make us his helpers and his followers, and sustam us w1th Ius obedience and his good pleasure, and protect us from his oppos1t10n and his anger, by the Real (al-haqq) and by h1m who speaks m venty (the Prophet or Imam) r

6

SECTION VII

219. Cmu;ertilit;.g tlie Retun& (al·m.a'dd). THE inli'SLWS ARE

AGREED AS TO THE NECESSITY OF THE PHYSICAL (badanl) RETURN, BECAUSE IF THERE WERE NO RETURN taldlf WOULD

BE EVIL, AND BECAUSE IT IS A POSSIBLE THING, .AND THE

VERACIOUS (the Prophet) HAS INFORMED US TBAT IT IS ASSURED

-HENCE IT IS p'l!'.t.T-.UID BECAUSE OF THE VEP.SES WHICH

TEACH IT AND WHIOH DENY IDM WHO CONTRADICTS IT.

220. Ma!tid is the t1me oi return, or its place. But what is intended here IS the new existence (al-wu]iidu'th-thani) for bodies (ajsad) and their return after their death and decom­position_ And it i~ real smrl llomM tn pRAA, ~ontrary t..o tJJA philosophers (hukam9. ). And the proof of that is of several kinds· (l) Fnst, the ag-reement of :Mushms :r-egar-drng it, with~ out any demal of It among them. And their agreement is a convincing proof (hujja). (2) Second, if the ma'8d were not real then taklif would be evil. And the consequence is false, hence the precedent is !aiBe also. And In explanation of the conditional state:ment-taklif 1s labour wh;ch. requires a com-pensat10n. Hence labour Without recompense would be injnstice. But recompense cannot be acquired in the penod of taldlf. Hence in this case there must be another abode in which the reward for good actiOns can be acquired, other­wise taldif would be injnstice, and that would be evil-and Allah is exalted above that!

221. (3) Thl...-d, the assemblm.g of bodies IS possible, and the Veracious informed us of ite occurrence, hence It is real. And it is poBBible, for the members of a corpse have the capacity of being united and of having life bestowed upon them, otherwise they could not have previously po88008ed the qnn.lity of hfe. ~ HA.h the Most H!gh. lmows the members of every person, because of what has been previOusly said as to His knowing all knowable things a.ud His ha.vlug power to unite them. For that is poBBible (existence), and AllAh the

82

83

Most High h.&S power over all poBBible eYi~t.ences.. H enoe it. is established that the making alive of bodiea is possible. And the VeracioUB informed us of its occurrence, ior it is estabiiehed by mutaW<Iur tradition that the Prophet Ul!ed to prove the physical ma'dd and to beheve in it. Hence it is real, and that is what was sought. (4) Fou..ri~ the t.ea,chlng c£ the Koran that it is eatablished and its denial of one who oontradwts 1t. Hence it is real. And the first proposition 18 true, for the verses which teach it are many. For instance, the word of the Meet High, " And he meeteth us With arguments, and forge.tt.eth 1ns creation: 'Who,' Elnth. h.e7

1 shall give hfe to honea when they are rotten!' Say: 'He shall give hfe to them who gave them being at first, ior in aU creatmn is he skilled ' ' 9

(36: 78, 79), and other verses.

222. A...'I\TD '!'!'4...E REStT!UU!lC'!'!ON (ba't·h) OF EVERY ONE TO

WHOM A RECOMPENSE MUST BE GIVEN OR WHO MUST GIVE A

RECOMPENSE IS NECESSARY (wajlDJ BY REASON, AND THE

BETtJlt,N OF EVERY OTHER IS NECESSARY BY TRADITION.

223. Those whose return 1s necessary are of two classes, the retu_m of the fit"St. of t.hem is necessa.-ry by re.ason o.nd tradition, and everyone who has a nght (}.laqq) to reward or recompense Will get his nght, and everyone agamst whom anyone has a r1ght of punishment or recompense wlil have to give 1t. And the second class are those who have no right t.o receive or t.o g~.ve, be t.h.ey men or some other Bonimals ~.it.h.er domestic or wild. And their return is necessary by traditiOn, beoa.DBe the Koran and muiawtUt/T tmWtioiiB teach It.

224. ANJ> THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF ALL THAT THE PROPHET

TA_UGJIT 18 NEOES.BA:Q.Y, K(TCR' .AS 'l'll1i! RltiDGll! (f3in1t) AND

THE SCALES (Mizan) AND THE SPEAKING 011 THE MEMBERS

(U( the body) AND THE FLYING OF THE BOOKS. FoR ·ntESE

THINGS ARE POSSIBLE, AND THE VERACIOUS HAS INFORMED

US OF THEM. HENCE THE OONI1ESSION (1'tuM) 011 THEM IS

INCUMBENT.

226. Since the Prophetship and Immunity to sin of our Prophet are e;:,~...ablished, it is aOO established. that he i&

ve...~ious in cvcryt"':~g which he related, whether it be (1) pre-vious to 1us age, as what he related of the previous prophets and their peopies and of former generations, and so forth; or (2) m his own age, as what he related of the moumbence of the things mcumbent and the unlawfulness of thmgs unlawful and the prefe..~nce (nadb) of things prefe..~b!e and the appointing of the Imams, and other mformation; or (3) after his age, either (a) in the worid oi takllf, as what he said to 'Ali, " Mter me thou shalt fight With the covenant­breakers (an-nakithln) and the wrongdoers (al-qas1tin) and t.he heretlcs (al-m.ar1qill)," or (b) after talclif, such as the stat-es of death and what IS after It, namely, pumshment and the grave and the Bndge and the Scales and rewards and the speakmg of the members and the flymg of the books and the states of the llSmg up (qJYiima) and the nature of the as­sembhng of bod1es and the stat-es of the mukallaf 1n the resurrectiOn. And 1t IS mcumbent to acknowledge and attest all that, because It IS aii poSSible and there IS llO ImpOSSibility about It. And the Veramous has mformed us of Its ocCllrrence, hence It IS real.

226. AND OTHER TffiNGS ARE REWARD (thawab) AND PUNISH­M.E.NT ('Iq8.b). AND THt: t:X.t'LANATlUN OF ·t.H.t:S.t!i 'l'.tfi.NGS (that IS, the extent of the reward and puniShment) wmcH HAS BEEN HANDED DOWN IS FROM THE SIDE OF THE LAW (that IS, not by :rea~on)-MAY AT,T.~R RT.lilSS THR LAWGTVRR 1

227. He means that among the number of thmgs winch the Prophet taught u.rfj t~ward and pw:ush.ment. And there has been a difierence of opm10n as to whether they are known by reason or traditiOn. The Ash'arites say that they are known by tra.d1tion. And some of the Mu'tazihtes say that reward IS known by tradition, because acts of obedience are not pro­portiOnate to their :r-ewartl and are not su.fficient to merit the great favours winch he shows us, in VIew of which no one is worthy of reward. And that 1s the belief (madhhab) of al­Balkhl. And the Mu'tazilites of B~ say It 1s by reason, because wklif demands it, and because of His word, " In L"E;compense (jazi.) of their la.botu."iS past" (56: 23). And the

THE RETUR....'i 8S

Mu't.azilit.es hold thR.t pnniahment is ne('.e.ssary (wA.jib) irre .. vocably (i).atman) for the unbeliever a.nd the person gnilty o£ a great sin. And our beiief (madh.hab) IS that which has been stated above, which proves the necessity of reward by reason. And as for punishment, even though 1t includes kindne~s (lutf-In preventmg smning); 1ts OOO\Lrrence 1n t,he case of one who IS not an unbehever who d1es in hiS unbelief (namely, In the case of a behever who d~es m great sm) is not fixed (that 1s, such a one shall not remain m hell).

228. And there are here several matters of Importance: (1) Frrst, one dMerves rew.a.Td and pra1se fol' dotng wha.t, I.S incumbent (wa11b) a.nd preferable (mandub) and what is opposed to evll, and for forsakmg evll, on the conditiOn that he does what IS moumbent because it is mcumbent or because of the reward (waJh) of 1ts bemg moumbent, and (that he does) what iR prefel"ahlA and what lR opposed_ t.o Av•l. and for.Rakes eVIl, m the same way. And he deserves blame for domg evli aud formtkmg what IB mcumbent.

229. (2) Second, the contmuanoe of mented reward and purushment 1s absolutely necessary m the case of one who dtP..s m fatth and of one who dtf:'..S m lmhehef) her..an.Re of the contmua.nce of pruse and blame for what they deserve, and (because) the oppo~nL~ of ~ach of Lhem coruets mtu diect 1f it be not contmuous (1f there IS not reward there must be purushment), smce there 1s no IWddle ground between them, and they must of necees1ty be pure from the blending of the oppos1te, otherw1se we Will not understand them properly. And. 1t 1s necessary that r-ewa1'd be accowpamed by exiiltatlOh and purusbment by contempt, for he who obeys 1s worthy of exaltat10n absolutely, and he who comiWts sm IS worthy of contempt absolutely.

230. (3) Third, It IS poss1ble for the deservmg of reward to depend upon a oondltwn., Sl.IlOO U 1t d1d not, then he who knew Allah the Most Ihgh but did not know the Prophet would be worthy of reward, and that IS false. Hence (reward) is cond1t10ned upon fulfilment (muwamt), accordmg tc the word of the Most High, " Venly, If thou JOm partnel'11 w1th Alliih, Yam shall be all thy work" (39: 65). And Hi.S word1

" ... A...nd whoever o£ you shall tu..'""n. from his religion and die a.n infidel, their works shall be frwtless in this world, and m the next: they sha.H be consigned to the fire n (2: 24).

231. (4) Fourth, "they who believe and who clothe not thetr faith with error" (6: 82), they are worthy of l""tmg rewa...~ absolutely, and '' they who a...'""C mfidels and d.lc infidels '' (2: I56), they are worthy of I...tmg purushment absolutely; and he who believed, ;; and With an action that IS right . . • mixed witli. another that is wrong" (9: I03), If the wrong was a small sin then 1t is forgiven hml, by the agreement of all, and 1f 1t was a ~-at sm., then he e1ther (a) :repented, and then is. absolutely of thos3 who are rewarded, by the agreement of all; or (b) he d1d not repent of 1t, m whwh case he e1ther de3erves reward for h1s faith, or he does not, and the second alternative IS false, becsuse It would result m m]ustwe, and because of t.l-.e word of t-he Moat H •gh., "). nd who~-ver slH~.n ha;ve wronght an atom's wmght of good shall behold It" (99· 7). Hence the nrat IS appomted (that 1s, he deserves rewaroJ. Then e1ther (a) Ieward comes first, and afterwards he IS puwshed, whwh 1s false by the agreement of all that whoever enters the Garden w.ll not come out of 1t. Hence m t.lnR ca.,~ (the dootrme of) purushment would have to be false, or (b) he IS first puniShed, then rewarded, and tha.t 18 what was sought. And (tlns 1s tme) because of the word of the Prophet about those who came out of the fire (lookmg) hke charcoal. And when the people of t.he Ga~rden seA them they w11l say~ " These are the people of Hell." Then they Will be commanded to wash themselves m the Sprwg of Lde, and they w1ll come out w1th theu face8 hke the moon on the mght when It IS full.

232. And as for the verses which teach the purushment of the diSobedient and the Wicked and their abidmg m the fire­now the mtent10n m alnd•ng (khulftd) IS a kmg stay, and It is frequently used m tills sei16e. And the m.tention m widwa and disobed•em IS those who are perfect (kllnul) m their Wicked­ness and disobedience, and they are the unbehevers (al-kuff~). by reason of the word of the Most High, " These are the Infidels, the Impure" (811: 42), thus reconciling this verse with the V6Iiiei wluch teaol;. tli.a.t pnnial;ment belo.ug& e:x:dusively to

THE RETURN 87

the unbelievers, as for mstance the word of the Most High, " V enly, this day shall shame and evil fall upon the mfidels '' (16: 29), and other verses.

233. Then know that he who commits a great sin (al-kablra) w1ll verily be purushed when (1dha) he does not have one of two thmgs · (2) Fmt, the forgJveness of Allah. For His forgiveness 1s hoped for and expected, especmlly because He bas promiSed itm Hts word, "He forg1veth their sms" (42: 24), "and to pass over nmny thmgs" (5: r8), "Verily Allilli wtll not forgive the union of other gods w1th HlDlSelf I But other than this He will forg1ve to whom He pleaseth" (4: 5r). " Full truly of mercy 1s thy Lord unto men, desp1te thmr BIDS" (13: 7). And breakmg a prolU!se cannot be approved in the Absolutely Generous. And also because of H1s praiSing Himself as bemg "the ForgJvmg, the Mermful." And that does not apply to small sms (as·sagh!ra), nor to great s1ns that have b0011 repented of For all bave agreed that pumsh­ment falls from them (they fire not purushcd), for m thiS case there would be no value 1n their forgiveness. Hence 1t is spemfied that 1t be the great aiDs precedmg repentance (that 1s, unrepented of), and that IS what was sought.

234. (b) Second, the IDtercessJOn (shafa'a) of our Prophet, the Messenger of Allah (on hun be peace 1). And h1s mter­ceSSlon 1s expected, rather 1t has occurred, accordmg to the word of the Most High, " Ask pardon for thy sm, and for behevers both men and women" (47· 2I). Now he who com-1Ults a great sm 1s (still) a behever, because of his attestatiOn <>f Allah and H1s Messenger and h1s confess1on (1qrar) of what the Prophet brought, and that 1s fa~th (!man). Because tmdn as a word means attestatiOn (~q), and here 1t IS hke that. And good works are not a part of it.• (And the Prophet Will mtercede for believers, for the term) 1s connected w1th the verb, wluch reqnires that 1t be different from 1t (that JS, the word belwoors m the verse IS connected wtth the verb ask pardon by the conJunction and, wluch shows that he IS to ask pardon for believers as well as for lumself). And siDce .A.llilli commanded the Prophet to seek pardon he did not dJsobey, for he IS unmune to BID, a.nd Jus seekmg pardon was

88

accepted £or his people, that he might be satisfied, oocordir..g to the word of the Most High, " And in the end shall thy Lord be bounteous to thee and thou shsit be satiSfied " (93: 5). This is according to h1s (Mul).ammad's) word, "I have stored up my intercession for those among my people who have co:mnntted gra...at sms."

235. And know that our beltef (madhhab) is that the Imams can Intercede for smners among their Shi'itea just as the Messenger of Allah can, without any d!lference. For they have n!lormed us of that, and the1r Immunity to sm prevents t.hem from lymg.

236. (5) F1fth, it IS necessary to confess and attest the tstates and Bituatmns oi the ResurrectiOn, and the nature oi the reckonmg, and the coming of men from their graves, naked and barefoot, and the preeencc With every soul of a dr1ver and a witness (two angel.~)) and the Ata.tes of men 1n the Garden, and the explanatiOn of their ranks and the nature of their blessings of foods and drmks aud Iililll:iages and so forth, of what eye hath not eeen and ear hath not heard nor the heart of man conce1ved (cf. 1 Cor 2: g). And hkewise (It IS necessary to attest) the states of the F~re and the natme of pumshment m It, and the various pams in It, accord1ng to what the verses and sound trad.1twns have taught, and about wluch the Mnsltms are agreed. For the Veracious hae m­formed us of all that, and there IS no rat10nai drfticulty m it, hence It Is the reahty, whJCh IS what we sought.

237. ANn REPENTANCE (at-tawba) IS INCUMBENT.

238. Repentance IS contritiOn (nadam) for evli (ai-qabii)) in the past, and forsakmg It in the present, and the deter­minatiOn not to return to It m the futme. And It is incumbent, becalLAe by ~greement. contrltwn fo:r e-very evil and every rennssness in what is meum bent is meum bent; and becauee trad1t10n also teaches that 1t lS 1ncwnbent; and aiso because it Is a protection agamst harm, and protection from harm, even If It be supposed (ma~nun), is mcumbent. Then there must be contnt10n for evil because It is evil, not from fear of the F~re, and not to protect one's soul from harm, otherwise it is not repentance.

239 . .And lmow t.h.a.t sin (dJumb) is either ag8inAt th~ Most High or against men. If it be against the Most High it is (a) etther an evil act, in which case contrition and the deter­mination not to repeat it are suffictent for it; or (b) it is remiss· ness in what 18 mcumbent. In the latter case there either :rem.!unR time to p1Lrpose to do 1t., whwh. 1s repent.ance for 1t; or else the time is past. In this case either the duty dis­appears with the psssmg oi the t1me ior It, hke (omittmg) the prayers of the Feast ('ldu'l-F1tr-whwh cannot be sa1d on another day), m which case contr1tion and the deter:mma­t!on not t.o repea.t (t.he offenee) are snflie1ent; or 1t does not dJsappear, m whwh case 1t 1s mcumbent to make 1t good (qa9a).

240. And d It 1s agamst men, It consists 01ther of leadmg someone astray ill rehg10n by an erroneous deCisiOn (fatwa), 1n winch. ease repentance .a.nd gmdmg l:nm ar1ght. imd makmg known to him the error (are mcumbent), or else of mJustwe regarding some nght or other, In whmh case repentance lor 1t, recompensillg hun or his he1rs, or askmg him to forg1ve It (are mcumbent). And 1f he 1s not able to do that, then it. 18 mcnmbent that. he determme to do It,

~':1:1. A.Nu OUM..M.A.NOINU (men to do) WHA'i' IS .Aft.t>.KUV.EU

BY ALLAH (al-ma'ruf) AND PROHIBITING (them) FROM DOING

"1\"HAT IS DISAPPROVED BY HIM (al-mnnkar) (18 illCumbent), PROVmRn THAT HE WHO COMMANDS AND PROHIBITA KNOWS

THAT WHAT IS APPROVED IS APPROVED AND WHAT IS DIS•

APPROVED iS DiSAPPROVED, ~ll THAT iT CONCERNS THINGS

THAT ARE YET TO OCCUR, BECAUSE THE COMMAND TO DO

SOMETHING THAT IS P .A.ST OR THE PROHIBITION FROM DOING IT

IS NONSENSE, AND THAT IT IS POSSIBLE THAT IT SHOULD HAVE

SOME EFFECT, AND THAT IT IS SAFE FROM HARM.

242. And OOilfiiutnd (a.l-amr) 10 seekmg an act from another authoritatively, and prohdntwn (an-nahy) 1s seekmg the forsaking (of an act) authoritatiVely. And whn.t is appr<>Ved is every good (hasan) act winch IS characteriZed by some quahty ill add1t10n to its goodness. And whn.t is d'I8WfJpr<>Ved is eVIl (al-qablQ.). And amce tlus 1a aettled2 there are here

AL-BAIIU 'L-.i;LAD1 'ASHAR

two ma~..ers for dioo1188ion: (1) First, the doctors have agr"....ed that the commandmg (men) to do what is approved and the prohibiting them from domg what is disapproved are m­cumbent, but they then disagreed m several pomts: (a) Flr8t, is 1t incumbent by reason or by tradition ? Shaykh 'fUal held the fi..,ogt (potntlon), and Q .. J'Yldu'l-Mur-...ada. the second, and the author also held the second. And the Shaykh gave as ins proof that tius commanding and proh1bitmg were kindness (Jut!) m domg what 1s mcumbent and forsaking what lB ev1l, and hence they were mcumbent by reason. We say :m reply +-"at what 1e 1ncumbent by reason does net belong exclusiVely to the mdlVldual (but belongs to Allah). (What 1s uxiJW by reason belong> exclusively to Aiian, what IS uxiJW for man IS all traditiOnal ) Hence m tlus case 1t would be mcumbent upon the Most High, and that IS false. For If He d1d these thmga (cmnman.d whS!t !B approved $lnd proh1b1t· what IS disapproved), then every ev!l thmg would have to be removed and every mcumbent thmg would have to be performed, smce commanding IS mCJtmg (haml) to a thmg and prohibiting IS lundermg from It. But what occurs IS the oppm1te of that, An_d 1f He dtd not do t,ha.t (that u~, If the evil m the world IS due to H1s not havmg commanded and proh1lJ.1ted), then He would have !a1IOO to pedorw what lB

mcumbent. But He IS the W1se (!Jakim), and th1s objection needs exammatlon (cannot be accepted).

243. (b) Second, are they mcumbent upon the mdividuals themselves, or may another act as substitute 1 The Shaykh held the fir'St and the Say-y1d the second. The Shaykh gave as h1s proof that mcumbence lB umversal without any speCiah­utiOn, accordmg to the word of the Most High, " Y e are the best folk that hath been ra!Bed up unto mankmd, ye enJom the Just (al-ma'riif) and ye forb1d the Ev!l (al-munkar) " (3; xo6). And the Sa.yy1d gave as proof the fa.ct that whiit was desu-ed (al-maq~ftd) was that what was moumbent should be performed and what was evil should be removed, and therefore he who performs It (com man-ia to do good and forb1ds evil} suffices for another (who doea not). And also because of the word of the Most High, H .And that there may

THE RETURN 01

be among you a people who inVIte to the Good, and enjoin the JUBt, and forbid the wrong" (3: 100).

244. (2) The second diSCUSSIOn 18 about the conditiOns of their being incumbent, four of which the author has here mentioned: (a) First, the knowledge on the part of h1m who oommands and proh1b1ts that what is approved IS approved and what IS disapproved 1a disapproved, a1n.ce 1£ 1t were not thUB he would surely command what was not approved and prohibit what was not disapproved. (b) Second, that they he t.hmgs wlnch w1ll occur 1n t.he future, for a comma.nd t.o do what IS past, or a prohibitiOn to abstam from 1t IS nonsense, and nonsense IS evil. (c) Third, that he who commands and prohibits consider It possible that his commandmg and pro­hlbitmg have some effect, for when he IS sure that 1t w1ll be ineffective, or considers 1t Improbable, 1t ceases to be m­cumbent. (d) Fourth, the safety from harm of h1m who commands and prohibits, affectmg either htUISelf or any other ldushw, reHulLwg Irom hu~ vOllllllHrmling aml pruillLrtwg. For If he thinks It probable that harm Will result, It ceases to be mcumbent. And commanding and prohibitmg w1th the heart and the tongue and the hand are mcu.rnbent and It should not be done m a severe manner when a gentler 1s possible.

245. And th1s 1s what I set out to finish and to wr1te, and what 1t was my lot to collect and arrange, m sp1te of the small demand (fo~ such a hook) and my hemg short.-hande.d (as to funds), along With the occurrence of JOurneya and the diSturbance of my thoughts. However, I have hope m the goodness of the Most H1gh that He will make 1t profitable, and that He will make It pure before His face. Verily, B:o hears and He answers, and Allah 1s the B~-t of those who G1ve Success and who Appomt l PraiSe be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds, and the blessmg of All&h be upon Mul}.amma:l and all of his deacan.da-nt~ !

NOTES Par. 10.

• The Mu'taz1htes also "agreed that the prmciples of ma'rifa and thankfulness for bleBBmgs are waJ sb before one hears (the Prophet) " (Shahrastani, ed. by Cureton, "al-M1lal wa'n-Nil;tal," p. 29). But the Ash'ar1te pos1t1on was that ma'nfa IS known to be mcumbent not by reason but by trad1t10n only.

b We see here that the Shi'1tes hold that the u~ul are all known by reason, whereas the Ash 'ar1te pos1t10n 1s that they are known only by tr&<ht10n.

Par. 16. "And w1th regard to taglid (blmd acceptance )--the learned d1ffer.

Some say that 1t does not suffice, and that tho muqallsd (bhnd accepter) 1s an unbehever (kafir). Ibn al-Arab1 (d. 543) held this and as-Sanftsi, and the latter gave m his commentary on his Kubra a lengthy refuta­tion of those who hold that taqlid IS sufficient " (Creed of ai-Fadali, Macdonald, "Development of Mushm Theology," etc, p. 316). The Mu 'taz1htes with their emphasis on reason reJected taqlU, and the Shi'Ites have followed them.

Par. 19. • In the creed of al-Nasafi, " Behef and Islam are one " (Macdonald,

" Development," p. 312) But the Shi'Ites con3Ider Islam to be wider than faith. See par 234.

Par. 38. The Sunmtes usually hst the positive qualities as follows: Life,

Knowledge, Power, Will, Hearmg, Seemg, Speakmg (creed of al­Ghazzti.li, Macdonald, " Development," p. 304) The Shi'Ites agree with them as to the first four qualities, though they place Power first. But m place of Hearmg and Seemg they put Perceiving. They retam Speakmg, but add two more to the hst, namely, Bemg Eternal and Veracity.

Par. 47. • an-Nazzam was a promment Mu'tazllite. See Macdonald, "De·

velopment," p. 140.

Par. 50. By denymg that AllAh does everything that He has Power to do the

Shi'1tes try to guard Him from evil Without hmiting His Po'\\er. {12

NOTES 93

Par. 58. • The Stfattans held that the dtvme quaht1es were eternally inherent

in the eBBence of Alltih The Mu 'tazthtes reJected this doctrine, be­-cause " If the quaht1es share m pr10r1ty they would share m godhood also," and the multtphctty of eternal existences would have to result, and this they demed They said that the quaht1es were not 111 add1t10n to the essence, but were the essence Itself. Thus Allah IS Knowmg by Hts essence, not by Hts Knowledge, and ts Powerful by Hts essence, not by His Power. (Shahrastani, p 29, Macdonald, "Development," p 136, Sell," The Faith of Islam," thJrdedJtJOn, pp 194, 195 )

The Ash 'ar1tes held that the quaht1es were Inherent m the essence, and were m addition to the essence " He has quahttes from all etermty extstmg m Hts essence." :But they guarded themselves agamst the objectiOn of the Mu 'tazthtes by addmg, " They are not He nor are they any other than He "(creed of an-Nasafi, Macdonald, "Develop­ment," p 309)

The Shi'ttes adopted the Mu 'tazthte doctrme m full They teach that the qualities are the t-ssence Itself, and that Alhlh IA Po\\-t-rful by Hts essence, Knowmg by His essence, etc.

Par 62. • See Macdonald, "Development," p. 170, etc.

Par 63 • The doctrme of Wtll's bt-mg a form of Knowledge Is also du<> to

Mu'tazihte mfluence Abii Hudhayl (d c 226 A H) "endt-avonr<>d­and m this he was followt>d by most of tho Mu 'tazthtes-to cut down the number of Allah's attributes Hts Wtll, ho satd, was a form of Hts Knowledge, He knew that there was goo-dman act10n. and that know· ledge was Hts will " (Macdonald, " Development," p. 137)

Par 67. a This quahty of PerceptiOn ts giVen m place of the two quahtH•s

of Hoarmg and Stght whiCh are always mcluded m the orthodox hst. The Shi'Ites mhertted from the Mu'tazthtes a dtshke to all expreSBIOns which seemed to suggest anthropomorphism, and they here resolve Hearmg and Sight into the Knowledge of thmgs heard and seen.

Par. 76. • The orthodox behef IS thus stated m the creed of al-Ghazzuli

(Macdonald," Development," pp 303-304): "An~ we witness that He ilpeaks, commandmg, forbidding, praismg, threatenmg, With a speech from all eterruty, prior, subsistmg m His essence, not resemblmg tho speech of created thmgs. It IS not a sound which origmates through the shppmg out of atr, or strikmg of bodtes; nor IS tt a letter \\-hwh IS separated off by the closmg down a hp or movmg a tongue • • . And the Qur'&n 1s repeated by tongues, written m copies, preserved m hea.rts: yet It, m sp1te of that, 18 pr1or, subsistmg m the essence of AllAh, not subjeet to d!vu.ion and separatiOn through bemg transferred to hearts and leaves. And M11Ba heard the speech of Allah mthout a

AL-B!BU 'L-J.iADt 'ASHAR

sound and without a letter, just as the pious see the essence of AllAh in the other world, without a substance or an attribute."

Par. 79. • al-Ash 'ari had aaid, "We teach that the Qur'an l8 AllAh's Word,

and that It IS uncreated, and that whoever says It IS created IS an un­behever (kafit•)" (Macdonald, "Development," p. 295). The Shi'rte reply IS that the callmg of anything prior except the divine essence IS hufrl

Par. 81. Veracity rs not grven as one of the drvme quahtres m any of the­

Sunrute creeds, nor have I found any mention of rt by the Mu'tazihtes. But Its admiBBIOn by the Shi'rtes to the hst of the positive quahhes IS no doubt due to their emphasiS upon Justice m Allah's character.

Par. 90 "The Mu'tazthtes ha.ve agreed m reJectmg comparison (tashbih)

of Him of every sort, as to direction or locus or form or body or hmita.­tiOn or motion or decrease or cha.nge or ImpreBBIOn, and they have made It mcumbent to explam (ta'wil) the figiirattve (mutashab1h) verses" (Shahrastani, p 29) Th1s was a protest agamst the anthropomorph­ism of the ':ij:anbahtes and K.arranutes who took literally the state­ments of the Koran about Allah's hands, face, H1s sittmg on H1s throne, etc The Ash 'ar1tes also rejected this anthropomorphism, but they felt 1t was 1mprous to pry mto the nature of Allah and try to explam what was meant by Hrs hands and H1s throne. Hence they Simply affirmed that "Allah has settled Himself upon H1s thront>," that He "ha.s a countenance--and two hands--and two eyes, wuhaut asktng how (bila kayfa)" (creed of al-Ash'ari, Macdonald, "Development,'' pp. 294, 190 ). The Shi'1tes follow the Mu 'tazihtes m holdmg that the anthropomorph1Bms must be explamed (ta'wil)

Par 99. • See note on par. 58.

Par. 101. • "They have agreed m denying the VISIOn of Allo\h the Most H1gh

With the eyes m the future life" (Shahrastani, p. 29) The Shi'ttes agree wholly with the Mu'tazthtes m this matter.

b al-Ash'ari aa1d, "We beheve that AllAh at the Day of Resurrection Will be VlBtble to the eyes, as the moon IS seen upon the mght of the full moon; the behevt>rs Will see Hrm . . • We teach that Moses besought AllAh that he might see Hrm m thlB world; then Allah revealed Hrmself to the mountam and turned 1t mto dust and taught Moses thereby that he could not see Him in thlB world (Qur. 7, 139)" (Macdonald, "De­velopment," p. 295).

And accordmg to the creed of an-N&&Bfi, "That there lB a Vwoa (ru'ya) of Allah the :Moet High IS allowed by reason and certified by tradition (naq I). A proof on a.uthorrty has come down With the affirmr.-

NOTES 95

tion that believers have a V18ion of AllAh the Most High in Paradise and that He Is seen, not in a place or m a direction or by facmg or the joining of glances or the plactng of a distance between him who sees and AllAh the Most High" (Macdonald," Development," p. 310).

Par. 102.

• This Is in reply to the Ash'ar1te11 who sa1d that the VIs1on of Allah was dented Moses only m thi8 world.

Par. 106. See Macdonald, "Development," p. 160.

Par. 107. • See note on par. 58.

Par. Ill. The Sunmte theolog1ans do not make Jnshce one of the Prm01ples

(~ftl) of rehg10n. The Shi'1tes owe thetr emphasis upon Just1re to the1r connectiOn With the Mn 'taz1htes, who called themselves "the people of Umty and JustiCe" (Shahrastani, p. 29, Macdonald," Development," p 136)

Par. 115. • According to Shahrastani (p. 30) the Mu 'tazihtes hold that "The

cogmt10n of good and evll1s also w1thm the provmce of reason; nothmg IS known to be r1ght or wrong until reaaon has enlightened us as to the dlstmct10n" (Sell," The Fa1th of Islam," p. 197)

b Note that only an tnJUrtous he 1s cons1dered evil. Shi'1tes hold that m some circumstances lymg 1s not only Just1fi.able but 1s positively mcumbent.

Par. 119. • See Macdonald, "Development," p. I 92 In the creed of a l-Ash 'ari

(Macdonald, p. 294) we read: " There 1s no Creator but AIIB.h The works of creatures are ('reatod and predestmed by AIIB.h, as He satd (Qur. 37, 94), 'And AllAh has created you and what ye do.' Man 1s able to create nothing."

So also the creed of an-Nasafi (Macdonald, p. 310): "And AllB.h the Most H1gh 1s the Creator of all actiOns of H1s creatures, whether of unbelief or belief, of obedtence or rebellion, all of them are by the Will of AllAh and Hl8 sentence and Hl8 conclusiOn and H1s decreeing. And to Hl8 creatures belong act1ons of cho1ce, for wh10h they are rewarded or punl8hed, and the good m these 1s by the good pleasure of AIIB.h (ruj.a) and the VIle m them 18 not by His good pleasure "

b The Mu't&zihtes 1DB18ted upon man's freedom, and demed kaab. " They are umted that the creature has power over and creates hl8 act1ons both good and eVIL"

• The Zaydites were a Shi'1te sect who derived the1r name from Zayd, a grandson of ij:usayn (see Macdonald, "Development," p. 36 etc.).

96 AL-BABU 'L·l1A.Dt 'ASHAR

Par 120. The Ash'arites replied to tlus obJection that AllAh gave man the

abihty to perform the actiOn· " And the abihty to do the action (Isti!a 'a) goes along With the action and Is the essence of the power (qudra) by wh10h the action takes place, and this word ' ab1hty ' means the sound· neBB of the causes and mstruments and bmbs" (Macdonald, p. 310)

Par. 126. a "We w1tness that He 111 a W1ller of the thmgs that are, a D1rector

of the thmgs that happen, there does not come about m the world, seen or unseen, bttle or much, small or great, good or evil, advantage or dtsadvantage, faith or unbehef, knowledge or 1gnorance, success or loss, mcrease or dtmmutwn, obed1ence or rebellion, except by H1s w1ll. What He WJlls 1s, and what He wllls not 1s not. Not a glance of one who looks, or a shp of one who thmks IS outa1de of H1s w1ll He IS the Creator, the Brmger back, the Doer of that wh10h He w1lls." (Creed of al-Ghazzali, Macdonald, "Development," p 302 )

b Shahrastani says that the Mu'taz1htes taught that "the Lord 1s

far removed from havmg evil and mJusbce and unbehef and dtsobedJ· ence attnbuted to Hrm, because If He had created InJUStiCe He would be UnJUSt " (p. 30 ).

Par. 130. The Ash'arites held that "It Js not mcumbcnt upon Allah the Most

H1gh to do that whwh may be best for the creature" (Greed of an­Nasafi, Macdonald, p 300) "There Is nothmg mcumbent upon Allah, agamst the doctrme of the Mu'taz1htes, who say that 1t 1s mcumbent upon Allah to do that whwh 1s best (~lab) for the creature " (See the creed of al-Fadali where the Ash 'ar1te answer to the Mu 'tazihte position 1s given-Macdonald, p 3!3 )

The Mu 'tazihtes Insisted that All.1h could do nothmg wh1ch was not for the good o' th'l creature "And they have agreed that the W1se (al-Hakim) docs nothmg except wh!l.t Is advantageous (~lab) and good (khayr), and because of H1s w1sdom 1t IS necessary for H1m to cons1der the advantage of the creatures But they d1tfered as to what IS most advantageous" (Sh!l.hrastani, p. 29) See Macdonald, "Development," p.136.

Par. 131. So far as I could discover, takUj1s mentiOned only once m the Sunnite

creeds translated by Dr. Macdonald and pubhshed m his "Develop­ment " The emphasis placed upon It m the Shi'Ite creeds Is due to the Shi'Ite doctrme that Alla.h must do what IS best for man, and therefore must give man a reward m the future Ide. But Allah Is Just, and can­not reward one who has no desert. Hence He must give man the opportumty to earn reward. Hence He must Impose tasks for man to perform, that reward may be merited. But AllAh wdl do more for man than merely give hrm a recompense for hlB labours, for the mented advantage will be JOmed with exaltation (see par. 142).

NOTES 97

Par. 137.

• Note that the Shi'lt.es hold that the~ must be known by reason. The orthodox behof IS that tho ~l must be known by tradition, and that reason has to do only with the fu,.U' (Sell, "Tho Faith of Islam," p. 190).

Par 139. • It IS the behef of both Shi'1tes and Sunmtes that man was croatod

w1th a desire for eVIl as well as for good. •rrus desire has Its seat m the nafa-i-ammara, which must therefore bo constantly kept under by 'aql, the seat of all good desires.

Par 143.

• The Mu'tazihtos also d1stmgm~hod between roward, rocomponso, and grace. "Recomponso ('Iwad) and grace (tafacJtlul) have another meanmg from reward (thawab)" (Shahrastani, p. 30)

Par. 144.

Lutjis anythmg that Allah does, 01ther directly or mduootly, to mako It easier for man to obey and harder for him to disobey Shahra11tani says that the Mu 'tazihtes dlflorod among themselves as to whether lutfwas wtl)'b for Allah or not. None of tho Sunmto croods translated by Dr Macdonald m tho " Development "mentiOn lutf, and the Sunmtes dtd not neod the doctnne, for smee they held that all of man's actiOns were created by Allah there was no fear that H1s will would not be dono But the Shi'ttos and Mu'tazllites, smco they ms1stod upon man's free­dom, had m some way to make suro that Allah would attam Hts purpose m human affairs And so thoy ~et forth tho doctrme of lutf, by whiCh Allah mfluenced men to do H1~ wlll, but did not force thorn.

Par. 151. • See note on par. 143•.

Par. 154. • See note on par. 130.

Par. 160. " When Musayhma, the faltlo prophet of Arabta, tried to reproduce

some of the mir&clos of Muhammad the result was JUSt the opposite of wha.t he desired The apphcat10n of his sahva. made sore eyes blmd, a.nd wounded hmbs leprous, and fresh water braclush I See "The Hy&t-ul-Kuloob " (Hemok), p. 309.

Par 164. In the Sunmte creeds of an-Nasafi (d 537 A H) and al-Ghazz&li

(d. 505 A H) and al-Ash'ari (d. c. 320 A H ) there IS no mentiOn of 'ifma as a quahty necessary for a prophet However, m the late creed of al-Fa4&li (13th century A.H.) we read that one of the necessary things for messengers Is "their bemg preserved ( 'lljlila) from fallmg mto

7

98 AL-B!BU 'L-11AD1 'ASHAR

thmga forbidden (mul}arram) and disbked. (makr(lh) " (Macdonald, p. 347), and th1a1a now the orthodox bebef. Bee Sell, "The Faith of Islam," p. 244.

Par. 166. • Refer to Sell, p. 244, note 2.

Par. 171.

• Refer to NICholson," A Literary History of the Arabs," p. 343.

Par.l74. • Contrast with the Shi'Ite conoeptwn of the Imam that of the

Sunrutes, as expressed m the creed of an-Nasafi (Macdonald, pp 313-314): "The Musbms cannot do without a loader (Imam) who shall occupy hunsolf w1th tho enforcing of tht>Ir d<'CIBJons, and m mamtammg their restriCtive ordinances and guarding thmr frontwrs, and cqwppmg th01r arm1es, and rece1vmg thmr alms, and puttmg down robbenes and thwvmg and highwaymen, and mamtammg tho Friday services and the .It'estivals, and removmg quarrels that fall between creatures, and roceivmg evidence bearmg on legal clA.Ims, and marrymg mmors, male and femA.le, who have no guardians, and d!VIdmg booty. And 1t IS ncc088&ry that the loader ahould be VISible, not h1dden and expected to appear (muntazar), and that he should be of the tribe of Quraysh and not of any other. And he 1s not asstgned. exclusively to the sons of Hashim nor to the children of Ab And 1t IS not a condition that he should be protected by Alli\h from sm ('1"ma ), nor that hc should bo the most excellent of the people of Ius t1me, but It Is a condition that he should be""' JUrM [i e, Mushm, free, male, sane, adult], should be a good governor and should be able to carry out decrees and to guard the restrictive ordmances (~}adds )of Islam and to protect the wronged agamat him who wronged htm. And he 1s not to be deposed from the leader­ship on account of 1mmorahty or tyranny."

The Sunmtes want an earthly ruler w1th suffiCient power to govern the Muslim state and repulse all enemies, while the Shi'1tos look for one who oan establish the K1ngdom of Heaven on earth and brmg an end to all the evils of the world. When one recalls the historical situatiOn at the t1me when the Shi'Ite creed was written tt does not seem strange that after the horrors of the Mongol mvas1on and the wal'll and confusion wh1oh followed, some men should long for a smleBB Imim who was able to " restram the oppressor from h11 oppression and avenge tho oppressed of Ius oppre880r.''

Par.l84.

• For SWUlltes the Foundations of religion are the Koran, the Sunna, IjmA', and QlyAI. It is eVIdent from the text that the Sbi'Ites reject all of these as 1U8Uffi.o1011t m themselves, and look to a dtVJnely guided Izdm, who alone can mterpret the Ko~ and make known to men tbeh- daty. The Sbi'ite mujlaltidB are the represenflatives of the hidden

NOTES 99

ImAm, but it is po81lible for them to err, as they do not receive any supernatural gu1danoe from the Imam. There IB no place in Bht'ite theology for l&a8hf (see Macdonald, "Development," p. 215, oto. ).

Par 193. • In the creed of an-Na.safi we read: "And the most excellent of

mankmd after our Prophet IS Abd Bakr the VeraoJOus." b A full account of the mcident. here referred to 18 founcl in chapter 18

of Herr1ck's "Hyat-ul-Kuloob " (which 1s a translation of volum(' h of tha great work of Mull& Muhammad B&qtr-~-MaJhrii (d 1070/1659) -1eo Browne's" Persu1.n Ltterature m Modorn T1m~," pp. 409, 417) The story m br1ef 1s as followa When Muhammad sent letters to tho kmgs of Rdm, Pers1a, etc , summonmg them to embrace IslAm, tho Chrtst1ans of NaJril.n m South Arab1a assembled m thtnr church to do01do what th~>y ought to do Mter var10us proposals had been made all to whother they should fight or y1eld or become Mushms, someone aroi!O and quoted .Jesus' words to S1mon Peter prom1smg to I!Ond Al;lmad the Parqalit, (tho parakl!'tos, the Comforter), whose son should conquer tho woJld Hut 1t was rephod that Muhammad had no offsprmg. and so th1s could not refer to hun Then they brought out the Book of Jam•' and road from tho story of Adam, how Adam once saw a br1lhant hght wtth fom other hghts about 1t, and was told by All&h that these h~ht.<~ wore fh·e of h1s doscondants, namely, MuQ&mmad and h1s Wazir and hts daughter and h1R two grandsons who would succeed h1m. Ibrahim aln saw a snmlar VIiJOn, and tho same thmg was prediOt<'d by Musd. and 'lsii

So It was domdcd to send all th01r prmces and doctors to Modma to Be:) whothor Muhammad was the one whom •lsa had prodiCtt~d Accordingly thl'y ent.erod Modma m groat pomp, found Muhammad m the Mosque, and debated tho quost10n of thtl person of Christ w1th h1m At last, unable to oonvmco one another, they proposed to h1m that they refer tho mattl'r to All&h, and call down H1s curse on whoever hod Then the verse of Mubdhala (mutual cursmg) was sent down (Koran 3 53, 54), Muhammad agreed, and thA contest was I!Ot for tho followmg day Tho ChriStians sa1d to one anothor, "If Mul;lammad comes out w1th royal pomp, then we shall conquer, for he 1s only an earthly ruler, but If he comes out w1th only a few godly people then he JB a prophet, and will prevail "

The next day tho Christian leaders came forward w1th their 110ns and WIVes All the poople of Medma came out With banners waving to Witness the conflict. Late m tho mornmg Muhammad came forth w1th the Holy Family only ('Ali, Fatuna, J:lasan, and J:lusayn), and took h1a place With them under a cloak hung between two small troos. The ChriStians asked why he brought out thoRO people and not the chief men of his rehg10n. He replied that All&h had so commanded. Then the Chr1st1ana, remembering what they had read m the J4mi', turned p:~.Io and retired, fearing to make the trJ&l, for they recognized Muham­mad as the Prophet whom 'Ia& had predJoted. Mul}ammad raised his

100 AL-B!BU 'L-lJ!Dl 'ASHAR

hands to pray, and at once the mountains began to tremble and smoke covered the earth. H he had spoken but one word everything would have been destroyed I So the Chnstians made peace, and agreed to pay an annual tribute of 2,000 robes and 1,000 misqals of gold.

The Shi'Ites attach very great rmportanoe to this mCident, not only as provmg the prophetic mission of Muhammad, but also because It establishes their dootnne of tho ImAmate. See "Hyat-ul-Kuloob," pp. 325, 326.

Par. 204. For a fuller account of this mcident see "Hyat-ul-Kuloob," ch 19

Par. 205. This idea was pOBBibly denved from Ibn Saba, tho founder of the

Saba'Jtes, a Jew who carried on a VJgorous co.mpo.1gn for 'Ali. &-c NICholson, "A Literary History of the Arabs," p. 215

Par. 207. a "Aided by diVJne power, Aly sOJzed tt.e outer rmg of tho gate,

and shook It so VJolently that the whole fortress trembled. The gate broke away, and Aly, usmg It as a shield, rushed mto the town, whiCh he soon overcame. He then hurled the gate forty cubits d1sto.nce, which seventy men, to satisfy their curiosity, tned m vam to bft " (" Hyat-ul-Kuloob," p. 274)

Par. 226. The KhariJites dlVldod sms mto great (ko.bira) and small (f?D.ghira ),

and taught that a bebever who committed a great sm and did not repent of It became an unbebever, and If he died w1thout repcntmg he would remo.m eternally_ m the Fire (see Macdonald, "Development," p. 126)

The Mu'tazilites said that such a stnner ceased to be a bebever, but dld not become an unbehever (ka.fir), and must remam forever m the Fire, but his suffermgs would be mitigated (see Sho.hrastani, p 29)

The Ash '&rites said. "We are of the opm10n that we may not accuse anyone of unbehef (kufr), who prays towards Mecca, on account of sm committed by him, such as unchastity, t.hoft, wme-drmkmg, as the Kharijites behove, who Judge that these thereby become unbehovers We teach that whoever comnnts a great sm (kabira ), or anything hke It, holdmg It to be allowed, IS an unbehever, smce he does not behove m Its prohibitiOn " (Macdonald, p. 296). Thus only one who holds that such sins are lo.wfuJ, becomes an unbeliever by comnnttmg them.

With this agrees the creed of an-Naso.fi (Macdonald, p. 311 ): "A great sm (kabira) does not exclude the creature who behoves from the Bebef (imA.n) and does not make lum an unbehever. And ~illa.h does not forgive lum who joins another With Himself, but He forgives anything beneath that to whom He wills of sins small(lf&ghira)or great. And there may be puDJSh.ment for a smaJl and pardon for a great one, If It be not of the nature of consulering lawful what 18 forbidden, for that IS

NOTES 101

unbelief (kufr)" And accordmg to the creed of al-GhazzAli (Mac­donald, p. 307 ), " •.. the attestors of Allah's Umty (muwa).lhids) will bl' brought forth from the fire after vengeance has been taken on them, so that there will not remam m Hell an attef!tor of Allah's Umty" Thus the orthodox behef came to be that after a period of puniBhment m Hell all believers would be admitted to the Garden.

The Sh!'1tes take the same positiOn. They hold that a behever does not become an unbeliever by committmg a great sm. If the sm was agamst AIIAli, he will be forgiven whenever he repents. If, however, the sm was agamst man, he must first make It right, and then he will be forg1von If he d1es without repentmg he will go to Hell for a time, and then be transported to the Ga1den where he will remam for ever. If he has tho mtorcesswn of the Prophet and the Imams or the forgiVe­ness of Allah, tho F1re will not bum h1m, otherwise he must be tor­mented to the extent that h1s sm deservl'B, and then be carried to the Garden.

The Sunmtos also hope for the mtercoss10n of Muhammad-" And th(' mterceBBIOn of the MoBBongers and of tho oxcollont on behalf of thoso who commit groat smsis estabhsh('d" (crl'('d of an-Nasafi, Macdonald, p. 311) "We teach that Allah will release a few out of Hell on account of Muhammad's mtercess10n, after they have beon scorched there" (creed of al-Ash 'ari, Macdonald, p 296)

Par. 234. a The Mu 'taz1htes considered good works essential to faith (&II,

"The Fa1th of Islam," p 185) But Shi'1tos and Sunmtt>s agr<'l' m holdmg that "faith (imil.n) IS assent (ta!jdiq) to that wh10h comes from Allah and confession (Iqr:ir) of It" (creed of an-Nasafi, Macdonald, p 312), and works are separate from It.

INDEX OF NAMES AND IMPOR'l'AN'l' ARABIC \t\TORDS

(The refertmcea nre ttJ tlle paragraphR)

ABADI 09-71 al-'AbbAs 192, 195 Abil Bah 192, 195, 208, 209 Abti'l-I:fasan al-Ash'nri ll9, 198 'Adlll1-151 Afdall70,189,1!ll, IO:l, 215 Alam 91-93, 149-151 A'lam 191, 100 'Alam 42,43 'Ali 00, 191 -20!1 22 ) 'Ahm51-56 'Aqlll1,115 'AraQ. 85, 86 Ash'ar1tcs liS, 60, 02, O.i, 72-74,

76, 77, 79, 80, 101 , 107, 115, ll9, 124, 126, 128, 1 :l!l, 151, 154, 166, 176, 198, 227

AwlA204 Aw1;nyil. 212 Azali 69-71

Bahshamiyya 107 al-Balkhi 47, 61, 227 Baqt 69-71 Baril.' o. 183, 18-l Ro.rahm1yya 154 -·-Ba~i 58, f"' "" Ba'th 131, 133, 222 Bo.y'o. 188, 20!) al-Bukhfu-i 00

ChriShaJUI 79, 89, 00. 194

Do.lil 12-15 Dhanb, 166,169,239 Din 7

Fil.ttm1to 188 Furq a.n 200

Gharaq 127 Ghamyy 109

H31106-108 al-I:fanafiyya 198

Ho.nbahtRs 75, 76, 79 Haram 113 :Hartin 205 Ho.sau ll1-115 Ho.shw1tes 166

, Hayy 65-57 n.I-H1lli I HukamA 47, 56, 58, 101, 104, 105,

I 22o Hulil.l89 al-l;lusayn 210-212

Ibn 'AbbAs 198 Idrak 67 IJma' 8, 9, 183, 220 'Ilm 13, 137, 161 Imam 9, 153, 174-218,235 Imam1tos 76, ll5, ll9, 128, JOG,

168,176,187,198 Iman 19,234 InJil 200 'Iqab 19, 226-233 lrada. 59-65 •Isa 96

I 'hma 164-1611, 170-181) Ism a 'ihtes 180

I ~tll.IJ.UU:U J ~

I Itt1had 94-96, 193 '!wad 143, 149-151

I I Jalal 84 Jawhar, 85, SG JibrO.'il 200 Jiha 88, !'0 Jmni 77 J1sm 42, 86

I al-Jubba.'i 198 Jubbll.'1yya 47

o.l-Kabira 231-23! Kaff8.ra 184 KalAm 72-80 KamA.l84 K&r1h 59

102

INDEX OF NAMES AND IMPORTANT ARABIC WORDS 103

Ka.rrA.nutes 62, 65, 75, 76, 90, 99, 101

K.a.sb119 Kha.llfa. 177' 188, 192, 205 Khli.n]lteS 166, 176

Mu'ta.zilites 62, 65, 73, 75, 76, 79, 101, 115, 119, 124, 126, 128, 139,151,154,166,176,198,227

Muta.watu 183, 191, 192

Khum 204 Kulhb 81, 111-117 Koran, 157, 161, 162, 183, 207

Nabi 151, 173 Na.f' 128-132, 143

! N aJr&n 194 N&nkh 158

La.hutiyya 96 1 Na.~~ 178, 186-191,208,211,213

Lutf 144-148, 150, 164, 16;;, 17 4, Nalslittyya 96 176, 217, 227, 242 ' Nazar 15, 32

an-Naz~am 47 Noah 79 Ma'a.d 219-236

Mak&n 86, ss Makruh 113 Ma1al;nda 111, 116 Man~u~ 186-191 Ma'lum 55 Ma'na62, 65, 74,107 Mand\\b 113, 228 Maqdu.r 46-50 Ma'rlfa 1, 4, 8-10, 13

Q'J.bih 47, 80,81' 111-115, 123-126, 238

Qadim 42, 69-71 Qu,chr 38-50

· n.l-Qa'rm 211 Qtyals 183, 184 Qubl;ll23-126

al-Ma 'rlif 241-244 Ra'is 174 Ma'~1ya 164-169, 179-185 R1y8sa. 174 Ma~la.Qa. 60, 61, 63, 65, 128, 154 ' Ru'ya. 100-102 Ma ·~tim 9, 165-169, 179-185, 195,

214, 217 Sa. 'ada 156 Mawla. 204 Sa.d1q 81, 157, 225 Mizan 224 a~-~aghira 233, 234 Moses 76, 100, 102, 205 Hahibu'z-Zarnan 210 Mu'a.ththu, 28, 34 : Sa.yyidu'l-MurtaQ.a 242, 243 Muba.Q. 113 Sha.fa 'a. 234, 235 Mube.ha.la. 191-194 Sha.hwa., 138, 139 Mudrlk 66-68 Sha.ri'a. 158 MuQa.mma.d 157, 162 Sha.rik 103 Mu}.lda.th 38, 42 Sha.rr 4 7 Muja.rra.d 101 Sha.ykh Ttisi 3, 242, 243 MuJU.SSima., 87,101 Shi'1tes 9, 192,235 MtlJib, 38, 41 a.~-~tfii.tu'dh-Dhi\ttyya. 56, MtiJtd 30 97-99 Mu'JIZ& 157, 160-163, 186, 187, o.~-~lfatu'th-ThubUttyya. 38-82

207,216 a.~·:Slfatu's-Sa.lbiyya. 83-110 Muka.lla.f 5, 134-136, 143, 145, ~1}.1Qa. 56, 58

147, 163 :Suat 224 Muka.lhf 135, 141 ~Mia so, 96 Mukha~1~ 59, 63 Sunmtes 9, 188

Ta. 'a.lluq, 46, 49, 98 Tafaqqul143, 151

62,

Mukht&r 38, 41 Mumlnnu'l-Wujtid21-23, 25,27-29 Mumtaru'ul-Wujtid 21-24 a.l-Munka.r 240-244 Ta.klif 10, 120, 131-143, 217-220 Mur&JJII}. 16 Mura.kka.b 83-85 Murid 59-65, 126 Murshid 174 Mutaka.llim 72

225 Ta.qlid 12, 16, 17 Ta.rku'l-awli 169 Taw&tur 161

1 Ta.wLa 237-240

104

Ta'wU 90 Tawrat 200

al-Uqniim 79 Usama 209 u,iil6, 7

Wa.J.ty 168, 177

AL-BABU 'L-I;I!Dt 'ASHAR

W&Jtbu'l-Wu]iid 21-23, 26 Wali 203

, Wu]ub 4

Zabiir 200 Za'1d 58, 62, 65, 1os Zaydttes 119, 188

WO.]Ib 3, 4, 113, 139,228, 242 ?thA.r 184 Zuhd201