Series of Answers by the Eminent Scholar Ata bin Khalil Abu al-Rashtah, Amir of Hizb ut Tahrir, to the Questions of the Visitors to his Facebook Page
Answer to a Question
Definition of the Islamic Aqeedah and the Mutakallimun
To: Ibn Mansoor
Question:
Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh,
May Allah bless you, our noble Sheikh. May Allah accept your deeds and reward you with the best of rewards in this world and the Hereafter.
I have two questions. Please excuse me for the burden of these two questions.
1- In The Islamic Personality (Ash-Shakhsiyyah al-Islamiyyah) Volume 1, in the chapter on the Islamic Aqeedah, it states:
"The Islamic Aqeedah is the belief in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and the Divine Decree (Al-Qadar), both the good and the bad thereof being from Allah the Almighty."
It then states at the end of the chapter:
"As for the issue of belief in Al-Qada wal Qadar by this name and by its subject matter, whose concept was the subject of dispute—no definitive (qat’i) text has been mentioned regarding it. However, belief in its essence is part of the Aqeedah and is among the things that must be believed in."
It is well known that the evidences for the Aqeedah are rational evidence (dalil aqli) and transmitted evidence (dalil naqli).
It also states in this chapter: "As for Al-Qada wal Qadar, its evidence is rational." I understood from what I studied in our tsaqofah (culture) that something cannot be part of the Aqeedah unless it is definitive (qat’i). I understood from our tsaqofah what Al-Qada wal Qadar is, and I understood that it is a definitive rational evidence. However, this has raised a question about the groups that used to speak about free will and predestination. How should we view those who hold such views? Despite their confusion regarding the Aqeedah of Al-Qada wal Qadar, no scholar among them declared the others to be kaffir (disbelievers).
Please clarify how we should view them, given that belief in Al-Qada wal Qadar is part of the Aqeedah and must be believed in.
2- In The Islamic Personality Volume 1, page 68, it states: "The Mutazila’s view of Allah’s justice was one of sanctifying Him from injustice... they measured the unseen (al-gha’ib) by the seen (ash-shahid); they measured Allah the Almighty by man... they subjected Allah the Almighty to the laws of this world exactly like a group of Greek philosophers." Sheikh Taqiuddin al-Nabhani (may Allah have mercy on him) said that one of the errors of the Mutazila was that they measured the unseen, non-perceptible, by the seen, perceptible. After he said this in that chapter, he explains the meaning of "Guidance and Misguidance" (Al-Huda wal-Dalal) in the next chapter, stating that Allah created guidance and misguidance and that the servant carries out guidance and misguidance. He followed this with corroborating evidences (qara’in) for them, both legal (shar’i) and rational (aqli). Regarding the rational evidence, he says: ("As for the rational evidence, it is that Allah the Almighty holds people to account, rewarding the guided and punishing the misguided... if the meaning of attributing guidance and misguidance to Allah was His direct execution of them, then His punishment of the disbeliever, the hypocrite, and the sinner would be injustice (zulm), and Allah is far exalted above that.")
It seemed to me that this statement contradicts what was previously said about the Mutazila's error in measuring Allah's unseen justice by human justice. How can we rationally perceive Allah's justice without a shar’i proof, and then say that His punishment of the disbeliever, the hypocrite, and the sinner would be injustice?
Your brother, Abu Zaid.
Answer:
Wa Alaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh,
First: The Islamic Aqeedah that was known during the era of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and the Rightly Guided Caliphs is the belief in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and Al-Qadar, its good and its bad from Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, as stated in the noble verse:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا آمَنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَالْكِتَابِ الَّذِي نَزَّلَ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ وَالْكِتَابِ الَّذِي أَنْزَلَ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَمَنْ يَكْفُرْ بِاللَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَالًا بَعِيدًا
"O you who have believed, believe in Allah and His Messenger and the Book that He sent down upon His Messenger and the Book which He sent down before. And whoever disbelieves in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last Day has certainly gone far astray." (Quran An-Nisa [4]: 136)
To these five is added (Al-Qadar in the sense of Allah’s knowledge and the writing in the Preserved Tablet...). All of this was known during the era of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ as we have explained in our books, and I will extract the following regarding Al-Qadar in this sense:
1- From the Book of Allah: His saying:
وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ
"And He is Knowing of all things." (Quran Al-Baqarah [2]: 29)
And His saying:
قُلْ لَنْ يُصِيبَنَا إِلَّا مَا كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَنَا هُوَ مَوْلَانَا وَعَلَى اللَّهِ فَلْيَتَوَكَّلِ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ
"Say, 'Never will we be struck except by what Allah has decreed for us; He is our protector.' And upon Allah let the believers rely." (Quran At-Tawbah [9]: 51)
This is in the sense of Allah’s knowledge and the writing in the Preserved Tablet...
2- From the Hadiths of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ: Muslim narrated in his Sahih, in addition to the five aforementioned matters, on the authority of Abdullah bin Umar bin al-Khattab:
(حَدَّثَنِي أَبِي عُمَرُ بْنُ الْخَطَّابِ قَالَ بَيْنَمَا نَحْنُ عِنْدَ رسول الله ﷺ ذَاتَ يَوْمٍ إِذْ طَلَعَ عَلَيْنَا رَجُلٌ شَدِيدُ بَيَاضِ الثِّيَابِ شَدِيدُ سَوَادِ الشَّعَرِ لَا يُرَى عَلَيْهِ أَثَرُ السَّفَرِ وَلَا يَعْرِفُهُ مِنَّا أَحَدٌ حَتَّى جَلَسَ إِلَى النَّبِيِّ ﷺ فَأَسْنَدَ رُكْبَتَيْهِ إِلَى رُكْبَتَيْهِ وَوَضَعَ كَفَّيْهِ عَلَى فَخِذَيْهِ وَقَالَ يَا مُحَمَّدُ أَخْبِرْنِي عَنْ الْإِسْلَامِ... قَالَ فَأَخْبِرْنِي عَنْ الْإِيمَانِ قَالَ «أَنْ تُؤْمِنَ بِاللَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَتُؤْمِنَ بِالْقَدَرِ خَيْرِهِ وَشَرِّهِ قَالَ صَدَقْتَ... ثُمَّ قَالَ لِي يَا عُمَرُ أَتَدْرِي مَنْ السَّائِلُ قُلْتُ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَعْلَمُ قَالَ فَإِنَّهُ جِبْرِيلُ أَتَاكُمْ يُعَلِّمُكُمْ دِينَكُمْ».)
"My father, Umar bin al-Khattab, told me: 'One day while we were sitting with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, a man with very white clothes and very black hair appeared to us. No signs of travel were seen on him, and none of us knew him. He sat down by the Prophet ﷺ, rested his knees against his knees, placed his palms on his thighs, and said: O Muhammad, tell me about Islam... He said: Tell me about Iman (faith). He ﷺ said: It is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and to believe in Al-Qadar (Divine Decree), both its good and its bad. He said: You have spoken the truth... Then he said to me: O Umar, do you know who the questioner was? I said: Allah and His Messenger know best. He said: That was Jibril; he came to teach you your religion.'"
Al-Qadar here is the knowledge of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and the writing in the Preserved Tablet, and not the technical meaning of the term Al-Qada wal Qadar. This name (the technical term of Al-Qada wal Qadar in the sense of the creation of actions and their performance, and the creation of the properties of things and their generation from actions... as we explained in our books) was not known in the era of the Prophet ﷺ or the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). Rather, it became famous in the era of the Tabi’un (Successors), and this issue became known and researched since then, and those who made it a subject of their research were the Mutakallimun (scholastic theologians).
As for the fact that the evidences for the Aqeedah are definitive (qat’i), this is correct according to all Muslims, and whoever denies it is a kaffir. However, this does not apply to the subject of (Al-Qada wal Qadar) in the technical sense translated from Greek philosophy, as it is a subject in which there was a difference in meaning:
- Whoever understood it correctly and established definitive evidences for it believes in it, as we explained in our books, and we believed in it and included it in the studies of Aqeedah...
- As for those whose understanding was confused, like the Mutazila and the Jabriyya, they mixed between the creation of the action and the performance of it, and reward and punishment... The Mutazila said man creates his actions with his will to receive reward and punishment for them, and the Jabriyya said rather Allah creates the actions of man and therefore man is compelled to them and is like a feather in the wind. Both groups mixed between performing the action and the creation of the action, which is among the attributes of Allah subhanahu, as He is the Creator of everything. Both groups erred in their understanding of the issue and came up with incorrect opinions; however, we do not say they disbelieved, but rather they are Muslims who erred in this issue.
In summary, it is not said of the Jabriyya or the Mutazila who differed in the understanding of (Al-Qada wal Qadar in its technical sense) that they are disbelievers. Rather, we say their opinion is wrong. We consider our opinion to be definitive, and thus we believe in Al-Qada wal Qadar as we explained in our books. Whoever understands it differently from what we mentioned, we say he has erred and we do not say he has disbelieved.
Second: Regarding your question about justice and injustice:
The Mutazila made the mind (aql) the judge over the actions of Allah subhanahu by measuring Allah’s actions against human actions. This is a pure error because Allah's essence and His actions are not subject to sensation; rather, one must stop at the shar’i texts from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ regarding them. Therefore, when we discussed this issue, we established the shar’i evidences first regarding the actions of Allah subhanahu, and after that, we mentioned the rational evidences that agree with them. This means the basis for affirmation or negation is what the Shari'ah has brought, and then if rational evidences are found regarding some aspects, there is no harm in mentioning them due to their agreement with the shar’i evidence.
Accordingly, we said when discussing this issue of Guidance and Misguidance in The Islamic Personality Volume 1:
["...However, verses have been revealed that indicate the attribution of guidance and misguidance to Allah, so it is understood from them that guidance and misguidance are not from the servant but from Allah. Other verses have been revealed that indicate the attribution of guidance, misguidance, and leading astray to the servant, so it is understood from them that guidance and misguidance are from the servant. These verses and those must be understood in a legislative manner, meaning that their legislative reality for which they were legislated must be realized. Then it becomes clear that the attribution of guidance and misguidance to Allah has a meaning different from the attribution of guidance and misguidance to the servant, and that each is directed at a side that differs from the side the other is directed at, and thus the legislative meaning emerges most clearly. Yes, the verses that attribute misguidance and guidance to Allah are explicit that He is the one who guides and He is the one who misleads. Allah says:
قُلْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُضِلُّ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَهْدِي إِلَيْهِ مَنْ أَنَابَ
'Say, "Indeed, Allah leaves astray whom He wills and guides to Himself whoever turns back [to Him]"' (Quran Ar-Ra’d [13]: 27)...
And He said:
إِنَّكَ لَا تَهْدِي مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ
'Indeed, [O Muhammad], you do not guide whom you like, but Allah guides whom He wills.' (Quran Al-Qasas [28]: 56).
The wording (mantuq) of these verses clearly indicates that the one who performs guidance and leading astray is Allah and not the servant. This means the servant does not guide himself, but rather if Allah guides him, he is guided, and if He misleads him, he is misled. But this wording has been accompanied by corroborating evidences (qara’in) that divert its meaning from making the direct execution of guidance and misguidance from Allah to another meaning, which is making the creation of guidance and the creation of misguidance from Allah, and that the one who directly executes guidance, misguidance, and leading astray is the servant. As for these corroborating evidences, they are shar’i and rational.
As for the shar’i evidence, many verses have come attributing guidance, misguidance, and leading astray to the servant. Allah says:
مَنِ اهْتَدَى فَإِنَّمَا يَهْتَدِي لِنَفْسِهِ وَمَنْ ضَلَّ فَإِنَّمَا يَضِلُّ عَلَيْهَا
'Whoever is guided is only guided for [the benefit of] himself. And whoever goes astray only goes astray against it.' (Quran Al-Isra [17]: 15)
And He says:
لَا يَضُرُّكُمْ مَنْ ضَلَّ إِذَا اهْتَدَيْتُمْ
'He who has strayed will not harm you when you have been guided.' (Quran Al-Ma’idah [5]: 105)
And He says:
فَمَنِ اهْتَدَى فَلِنَفْسِهِ
'So whoever is guided, it is for [the benefit of] himself.' (Quran Az-Zumar [39]: 41)
And He says:
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يُجَادِلُ فِي اللَّهِ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ وَيَتَّبِعُ كُلَّ شَيْطَانٍ مَرِيدٍ * كُتِبَ عَلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ مَنْ تَوَلَّاهُ فَأَنَّهُ يُضِلُّهُ وَيَهْدِيهِ إِلَى عَذَابِ السَّعِيرِ
'And of the people is he who disputes about Allah without knowledge and follows every rebellious devil. It has been decreed for every devil that whoever turns to him - he will misguide him and will lead him to the punishment of the Blaze.' (Quran Al-Hajj [22]: 3-4)
And He says:
وَيُرِيدُ الشَّيْطَانُ أَنْ يُضِلَّهُمْ
'And Satan wishes to lead them far astray.' (Quran An-Nisa [4]: 60).
So the wording of these verses clearly indicates that man is the one who performs guidance and misguidance, so he misleads himself and misleads others, and that Satan also misleads. Guidance and misguidance have been attributed to man and to Satan, and that man is guided by himself and goes astray by himself.
This is a corroborating evidence (qarinah) that the attribution of guidance and leading astray to Allah is not an attribution of direct execution, but an attribution of creation. If you put the verses together and understand them legislatively, it becomes clear to you that each refers to a side other than the side of the other. The verse says:
قُلِ اللَّهُ يَهْدِي لِلْحَقِّ
'Say, "Allah guides to the truth."' (Quran Yunus [10]: 35)
And the other verse says:
فَمَنِ اهْتَدَى فَإِنَّمَا يَهْتَدِي لِنَفْسِهِ
'So whoever is guided, it is for [the benefit of] himself.' (Quran Az-Zumar [39]: 41)
The first indicates that Allah is the one who guided, and the second indicates that man is the one who was guided. Allah’s guidance in the first verse is the creation of guidance in the human soul, i.e., creating the potential for guidance. The second verse indicates that man is the one who directly executed what Allah created of the potential for guidance and thus was guided. Therefore, He says in another verse:
وَهَدَيْنَاهُ النَّجْدَيْنِ
'And have shown him the two ways?' (Quran Al-Balad [90]: 10) i.e., the path of good and the path of evil. This means We placed in him the potential for guidance and left it to him to directly execute the guidance himself. These verses that attribute guidance and leading astray to man are a shar’i corroborating evidence indicating the diversion of the direct execution of guidance away from Allah to the servant.
As for the rational evidence, it is that Allah the Almighty holds people to account, rewarding the guided and punishing the misguided, and He based the accounting on man’s actions. Allah says:
مَنْ عَمِلَ صَالِحًا فَلِنَفْسِهِ وَمَنْ أَسَاءَ فَعَلَيْهَا وَمَا رَبُّكَ بِظَلَّامٍ لِلْعَبِيدِ
'Whoever does righteousness - it is for his [own] soul; and whoever does evil [does so] against it. And your Lord is not ever unjust to [His] servants.' (Quran Fussilat [41]: 46)
And He said:
فَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ * وَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ
'So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it.' (Quran Az-Zalzalah [99]: 7-8)
And He said:
وَمَنْ يَعْمَلْ مِنَ الصَّالِحَاتِ وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ فَلَا يَخَافُ ظُلْمًا وَلَا هَضْمًا
'But he who does of righteous deeds while he is a believer - he will neither fear injustice nor deprivation.' (Quran Taha [20]: 112)
And He said:
مَنْ يَعْمَلْ سُوءًا يُجْزَ بِهِ
'Whoever does a wrong will be recompensed for it.' (Quran An-Nisa [4]: 123)
And Allah says:
وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الْمُنَافِقِينَ وَالْمُنَافِقَاتِ وَالْكُفَّارَ نَارَ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا
'Allah has promised the hypocrite men and hypocrite women and the disbelievers the fire of Hell, wherein they will abide eternally.' (Quran At-Tawbah [9]: 68).
If the meaning of attributing guidance and leading astray to Allah was His direct execution of them, then His punishment of the disbeliever, the hypocrite, and the sinner would be injustice, and Allah is far exalted above that. Therefore, it was necessary to divert its meaning to something other than direct execution, which is the creation of guidance from non-existence and the success (tawfiq) toward it. Thus, the one who directly executes guidance and misguidance is the servant, and therefore he is held accountable for it.
This is from the perspective of the verses that contain the attribution of guidance and leading astray to Allah. As for the verses in which guidance and leading astray are linked to the Will (al-mashi’ah):
يُضِلُّ اللَّهُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَهْدِي مَنْ يَشَاءُ
'Allah leaves astray whom He wills and guides whom He wills.' (Quran Al-Muddaththir [74]: 31)
The meaning of the Will here is the Intention (al-iradah), and the meaning of these verses is that no one is guided against Allah's will, nor does anyone go astray against His will. Rather, whoever is guided is guided by Allah’s intention and will, and whoever goes astray goes astray by His intention and will..."]
Whereas the Mutazila made the mind the fundamental evidence in the issue, and this is what we mentioned in the same book:
["...The Mutazila’s view of Allah’s justice was one of sanctifying Him from injustice. They stood before the issue of reward and punishment in a manner that agreed with the sanctification of Allah and His justice. They saw that Allah’s justice has no meaning except by affirming the freedom of will in man, and that he creates the actions of his own soul and that it is in his power to do a thing or not to do it. If he acts by his will or refrains by his will, his reward or punishment would be rational and just. But if Allah created man and compelled him to act in a certain way, compelling the obedient to obedience and the sinner to sin, then punishing this one and rewarding that one, it would not be justice at all. They measured the unseen by the seen, they measured Allah the Almighty by man, and they subjected Allah the Almighty to the laws of this world exactly as a group of Greek philosophers did. They bound Allah to justice as perceived by man. The origin of the research was the reward and punishment from Allah for the servant's action, and this is the subject of research that was called (Al-Qada wal Qadar) or (Al-Jabr wal-Ikhtiyar / Compulsion and Choice) or (freedom of will)... and they say that if Allah willed the disbelief of the disbeliever and the sins of the sinner, He would not have forbidden him from disbelief and sin. How can it be imagined that Allah wants Abu Lahab to disbelieve and then commands him to believe and forbids him from disbelief? If any created being did this, he would be a fool; Allah is far exalted above that. If the disbelief of the disbeliever and the sin of the sinner were intended by Allah, they would not deserve punishment...
As for the issue of creating actions, the Mutazila said that the servants' actions are created by them and are from their own work, not from Allah’s work. It is in their power to do them and to refrain from them without any intervention from Allah’s power... and they concluded from all that to the opinion they adopted in the issue of creating actions, which is that man creates the actions of his soul and that he is capable of doing the thing and capable of not doing it. Following the method of the Mutakallimun in researching the issue and what branches out from it, the issue of generation (at-tawallud) branched out for them from the issue of creating actions. For when the Mutazila decided that man’s actions are created by him, a question branched out: What is the opinion regarding the actions that are generated from his action? Are they also from his creation? Or from Allah’s creation? Such as the pain felt by the one who is struck, the taste that something acquires from man’s action, the cutting that occurs from the knife, pleasure, health, desire, heat, cold, moisture, dryness, cowardice, courage, hunger, satiety, and other things. They said all of these are from man’s action because man is the one who brought them about when he performed the action, so they are generated from man’s action, and thus they are created by him..."]
Accordingly, the Mutazila's opinion is based on making the mind the judge over the actions of Allah subhanahu, even though they do not perceive the reality of these actions; they may perceive something other than their reality. As stated in the book itself, they ["did not realize that Allah’s justice cannot be measured by human justice, and it is not permissible to subject Allah to the laws of this world while He is the One who created the world and He is the One who manages it according to these laws He made for it. If we see that when a man’s vision is narrow, he understands justice in a narrow way and judges things in a certain way, but when his vision expands, his view of justice changes and his judgment changes, then how can we measure the Lord of the worlds, whose knowledge encompasses everything, and give His justice the meaning that we see as justice?"]
Therefore, the mind cannot judge the actions of Allah subhanahu, as His actions are outside the scope of the mind’s capability and judgment. It is not correct to give the mind, independent of the Shari'ah, the authority to judge the actions of Allah subhanahu.
This is what we mentioned in our books; we established the shar’i evidences for the actions of Allah subhanahu and then mentioned the rational evidences that agree with them...
I hope this clarification is sufficient, and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.
Your brother, Ata bin Khalil Abu al-Rashtah
08 Jumada al-Awwal 1443 AH Corresponding to 12/12/2021 CE
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