Aqeedah Tahaawiyyah : Lesson 07
ما زال بصفاته قديمًا قبل خلقه
[16] He has always had His Attributes, before His act of creation.
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The Explanation – Point [16]
The saying of the author, “The ancient One without any beginning”[1] has already preceded. So, there was nothing before Him, He the Perfect and Most High. And the meaning of that is that He has the Attributes of Perfection and His Attributes of Perfection are eternal; they have always existed and they always will. So just as He is the First without any beginning, then likewise, His Attributes (are the same) since they are along with Him, He the One free of all imperfections. So, they were always existing, just as Allaah the Perfect and Most High has always existed.
So it is not the case that He existed before without any Attributes and then Attributes came about for Him afterwards as the people of misguidance say; those who say, “He did not always have Attributes and then afterwards He came to have them.” They say so in order not to necessitate there being multiple lords deserving worship, as they claim, or multiple divinities in existence who are eternal, such that the Names and Attributes would be partners with Allaah in His Eternity. So we say, “How free is Allaah of all deficiencies, SubhaanAllaah! This (saying) would necessitate that Allaah was deficient – High and Exalted is Allaah – that He was deficient for a period and then He came to have Attributes and so, became Perfect through those Attributes; High and Exalted is Allaah above what they say. And the fact that His Attributes are eternal does not necessitate that there are other eternal lords. Because the attributes are not something other than and outside the one who has those attributes. Rather, they are meanings found in the one who has the attributes. And an attribute is not something independent of the one who has the attribute. So if you say for example, “such and such person hears and he sees and he has knowledge of fiqh (he is a jurist) and he is a scholar of the language and he is a scholar of grammar” does it mean that this person has become many people? So having multiple attributes does not necessitate that the ones having the attributes are multiple as the people of misguidance have said.
So Allaah, the One free of all imperfections and the Most High, His Attributes had no beginning just as His Self (Dhaat) had no beginning. So Allaah has the Attribute of being the Creator (Al-Khaaliq) always and forever.
And as for the actions of (Allaah) the Perfect, then they are eternal with regard to their type, newly occurring with regard to actions.
So Allaah, the Perfect and Most High, He was ‘the One who speaks’ before He actually spoke and He was ‘the Creator’ before He actually created anything and as for His speaking and His creating, then these are actions which newly occur and so on, to the rest of the actions.
End of explanation of point [16]
[17] لم يزدد بكونهم شيئًا، لم يكن قبلهم من صفته.
[17] He (Allaah) was not increased in any Attribute which He did not have before, by the creation of the creation.
The Explanation – Point [17]
Meaning: His creating the creation. We do not say that He did not become a Creator except after He created the people. Rather, Allaah has been the Creator always, forever, without any beginning to that. And as for His act of creating, then that is an action which occurs newly again and again.
End of explanation of point [17]
[18] وكما كان بصفاته أزليًا، كذلك لا يزال عليها أبديًا.
[18] And just as He has always possessed His Attributes, then likewise, He will always possess them forever.
The Explanation – Point [18]
Just as He has always has His Attributes forever, meaning: there was no beginning to that; then likewise, His Attributes will remain with Him, He the Perfect, in the future. So He is Eternal, along with His Attributes; He has no end.
أنت الآخر فلا بعدك شيء
“You are the Last One, so there is nothing after You.” [2]
the Last One with Your Names and Attributes. So it is not to be said that these attributes will cease to be with Him in the future; rather, they will always be with Him, He the Perfect and Most High.
End of explanation of point [18]
[19] ليس بعد خلق الخلق استفاد اسم (الخالق).
[19] He did not acquire the Name ‘The Creator’ after the creation of the creation.
The Explanation – Point [19]
This is a clarification and a repetition of what has preceded.
End of explanation of point [19]
[20] ولا بإحداث البرية استفاد اسم (الباري).
[20] Nor did He acquire the Name ‘Al-Baaree’ (The Maker) after giving existence to the beings.
The Explanation – Point [20]
So from the Names of Allaah the Mighty and Majestic is الباري (Al-Baaree – The Maker); meaning: The Creator. برأ الخلق (bara.a al-khalq) means: He made them. So, Allaah is Al-Baaree (The Maker of the creation). And this Name goes along with Allaah’s Self – it has no beginning.
End of explanation of point [20]
[21] له معنى الربوبية ولا مربوب، ومعنى الخالق ولا مخلوق.
[21] He possessed the meaning of Lordship and Nurturing when there were no slaves, and He had the meaning of being the Creator without there being any creation.
The Explanation – Point [21]
So likewise, He was the Rabb (Lord and Nurturer) before anything existed for Him to be the Owner and the Master of. And the meaning of Ar-Rabb (The Lord and Nurturer) is: The Owner and the One who Controls and the One who Rectifies and the Master; and these Attributes are always with His Self – without any beginning and without any end, even before the existence of those things that He is the Lord and Master of, and even after those things which He is the Lord and Master of, pass away.
End of explanation of point [21]
[22] وكما أنه محيي الموتى بعدما أحيا، استحق هذا الاسم قبل إحيائهم، كذلك استحق اسم الخالق قبل إنشائهم.
[22] And just as He is the One who is ‘The Giver of life to the dead’ after He gives them life, then He deserves this Name even before He gave life to them; and likewise, He deserves the Name ‘The Creator’ before He created and produced them.
The Explanation – Point [22]
So just as He, the Perfect has always possessed the Attribute of being the One who gives life to the dead, and that He gives life and gives death, and this Attribute was never absent (from Him) until He actually gave life to the dead. Rather, it was always His and it always will be His forever. And as for the action of giving life to the dead, then this is something which occurs newly and repeatedly; Allaah gave life to some and He gives life to some, He the Perfect, whenever He Wishes.
End of explanation of point [22]
[23] ذلك بأنه على كل شيء قدير.
[23] That is because He has full Power and Ability over everything.
The Explanation – Point [23]
This is an eternal Attribute. It cannot be said that He did not acquire the Attribute of Power and Ability until He created and produced the creation. Rather, Al-Qudrah (Power and Ability) is an eternal Attribute of His. Rather, His having produced the creation, this is an effect produced by His being the One who has full Power and Ability.
And Allaah is the One who described Himself as being the One who has full Power and Ability over everything – over the things that exist and over the things that do not exist. And He did not restrict His Power to anything in particular. Rather, nothing renders Him incapable and it is not permissible to restrict and say that He only has Power over such and such. And it is not to be said, “Allaah has power over whatever He Wishes.”[3] Because, this saying is particular and restricted to gathering the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth:
And from His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and all the creatures that He spread throughout them. And He has full Power to gather them when He Wishes. (Sooratush–Shooraa (42), aayah 29)
So this was a particular case.
End of explanation of point [23][4]
Footnotes:
[1] Point [6]
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[2] From a hadeeth in Saheeh Muslim where the Prophet sallAllaahu `alayhi wa sallam said, addressing Allaah in a du`aa., “You are the Last One, so there is nothing after You.”
[3] This came previously under Point [4]
[4] Translator’s side point: As a correction of this point, Shaykh Al-Albaanee rahimahullaah, then he criticised this saying here, the saying that you can’t say about Allaah that He has power over what He wishes. Sh al-Albaanee criticised that in his Silsilah … [break in recording] “… Lord of the Creation. So Allaah will reply, “I am not mocking you but rather I have full ability over whatever I Wish.” ” Hadeeth reported by Muslim in the book of Eemaan. [187].
After he brought this hadeeth, Shaykh Al-Albaanee said: So the saying of Allaah the Most High, at the end of this hadeeth, “But rather I have full power over whatever I Wish,” this shows the mistake of the one who wrote notes to Al-`Aqeedah At–Tahaawiyyah quoting some noble person that, “some people say, ‘Allaah has full power over whatever He Wishes’ and that this saying is not correct.” I (Shaykh Al-Albaanee )say: Rather, it is exactly what is correct after its being established in this hadeeth, especially when it is witnessed to by the saying of Allaah, the Most High,
And He (Allaah) has full Power to gather them when He Wishes. (Sooratush–Shooraa (42), aayah 29)
And this does not deny that His Wish and His Power and Ability, He the Most High, are general to everything as someone seems to have thought; and Allaah knows best. [as-Saheehah 6/195, Hadeeth #2601]
At-Ta`leeqaat Al-Mukhtasarah `alaa Matn Al-`Aqeedah At–Tahaawiyyah
By Shaykh Saalih ibn Fawzaan al-Fawzaan hafizahullaah
Translated by Aboo Talhah Daawood Burbank, rahimahullaah
Transcribed by Sideeqa Ali
Posted with kind permission from Dawud Burbank rahimahullaah
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