Sunday, December 27, 2009

A Source of Ibn Taymiyya's Anthropomorphist Ideas

Abu Hamid Ibn Marzuq rahimahullah gives the following excerpts from `Uthman Ibn Sa`id al-Darimi al-Sajzi's book al-Naqd `ala Bishr al-Marisi:

1. "How can a person be guided towards tawhid [belief in unity of Allahu ta'ala] if he does not know where Allah al-Wahid is?" (p. 4)

2. "al-Hayy [Allah] does what He wills, moves when He so wills, descends and ascends when He wills,... rises and sits, for the difference between the living and the dead is movement. Without doubt, every living thing moves, every dead thing is immobile." (p. 20)

3. "There is a limit for Allahu ta'ala and there is a limit for His makan [place]. He is above the skies, above the Arsh. These are His two limits." (p. 23)

4. "Everbody knows Allah and Allah's makan better than the Jahmiyya." (p. 25)

5. "As I said, if Allah had not had two hands with which He created Adam, it would not be permissible to say "In Thy hand is the good" [3/26, English ma'al from Pickthall] in Qur'an al-Kareem. (p. 29)

6. "The ta'wil of Rasulullah's words "Surely, He is not one-eyed" is that "Allah has two eyes." (p. 48)

7. "Allah sits on the kursi and there remains only four spans vacant." (p. 74)

8. "If Allah so willed, He could have settled on the back of a gnat thanks to His power and Rubbubiyyah, not to mention the magnificient Arsh." (p. 85)

9. "Without any doubt, the top of a mountain is closer to the sky than its bottom. The top of a minaret is also closer to Allah than its bottom." (p. 100)

10. "We don't accept the claim that maf'ulat are absolutely creations. We have agreed that movement, descent, walking, running, istiwa over the Arsh and the sky are qadim." (p. 121)

Translated from: Bara'a al-Ash`ariyyin Min `Aqa'id al-Mukhalifin (p. 34 in the Turkish edition)

Dr. G. F. Haddad gives the following information when he is listing the works of Imam al-Kawthari:

Tahdhir al-Umma Min Du`at al-Wathaniyya ("Warning the Community About Those Who Call to Idol-Worship"), written in 1942, in which he [Imam al-Kawthari] lambasts al-Azhar for allowing the publication of `Uthman ibn Sa`id al-Darimi's al-Radd `ala al-Jahmiyya which contains phrases like "[Allahu ta'ala] moves if He wishes, descends and ascends if He wishes... stands and sits if He wishes"; "Allahu ta'ala has a limit... and His place also has a limit, as He is on His Throne above His heavens, and these are two limits"; "if He wished, He would have settled on the back of a gnat" and other enormities.29 This is identical to Ibn Karram's doctrine whereby "Allah has a body unlike bodies, and a limit."30 Yet Ibn Taymiyya ardently defends al-Darimi's views,31 citing them time and again in his attack on Fakhr al-Din al-Razi's Asas al-Taqdis - a refutation of anthropomorphism - entitled al-Ta'sis Radd Asas al-Taqdis,32...

29Al-Kawthari, Maqalat ( (p. 378-383, cf. 361-367, 391-406, 420).
30See `Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi, al-Farq Bayn al-Firaq (p. 203, 217).
31Ibn al-Qayyim in his Ijtima` al-Juyush al-Islamiyya (p. 88) revealed that Ibn Taymiyya "praised and recommended al-Darimi's two books [Naqd al-Jahmiyya and al-Radd `ala Bishr al-Marrisi] most strenuously"!
32This work was newly printed under the made-up title Bayan Talbis al-Jahmiyya fi Ta'sis Bida`ihim al-Kalamiyya, 2 vols., ed. Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Rahim ibn Qasim (Mecca: Matba`a al-Hukuma, 1972). Cf. Bayan Talbis al-Jahmiyya (1:426-427, 1:433, 1:443-444, 2:111, 2:157-160, 2:494-495).

http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/misc/al_kawthari.htm

Dr. Haddad also states:

Yet Ibn Taymiyya ardently defends al-Darimi's views, citing them time and again in al-Ta'sis Radd Asas al-Taqdis -an all-out attack on Fakhr al-Din al-Razi's refutation of anthropomorphism titled Asas al-Taqdis - including the gnat remark (Bayan Tablis, 1:568, 2:160).

In: Dr. G. F. Haddad, The Refutation of Him Who Attributes Direction to Allah, Aqsa Publications, Birmingham, UK, 2008, p. 83.

For further infomation, see also:

http://www.sunnah.org/aqida/anthro/anthro1.htm


Note: `Uthman Ibn Sa`id al-Darimi al-Sajzi died in 280. He should not be confused with`Abd Allah ibn `Abd al-Rahman al-Darimi, author of the Sunan, who died in 255.

Compiled by: Murat Yazıcı

No comments:

Post a Comment