Point 3: An Explanation of the Talbees (Deception) of the [Philadelphian] Jahmites (Bayaan Talbees al-Jahmiyyah)

Concerning their saying:

Inwardly, his belief is exactly that of the Sahaba. His speech (kalam) was not for the purpose of ascribing for Allah a place or implying that he is physically stationed relative to his creation. The fact that this statement of his was unknown during the time of the sahaba is proof that it came about after the Jahmiyyah's incorrect assertion that Allah is everywhere by his essence. Would our opponent conclude from this addition of his that Abdullah Ibn Mubaarak deviated in creed from the Sahaba?

It is here that we are now entering into the inner-core of the deception of the Jahmites, and you need to pay good attention here, because this is where their deception is exposed and brought out into broad daylight with full clear, unhindered visibility, and this is where we will see the feigning of piety on the outside, claiming to be guided by what the Sahaabah and the Salaf were upon, whereas in reality, they are guided by none other than the deen of the Jahmites who decided what could and could not be said of Allaah based upon their devised intellectual proof against the Indian Materialist Philosophers, the Sumaniyyah.

Point 3a: Describing the Saying of Ibn al-Mubaarak as being "Kalaam"

First of all we note that these Philadelphian Jahmites have treated what they assumed was said by Ibn al-Mubaarak, "bi dhaatihi", when he actually said, "baa'inun min khalqihi" and "bi haddin", they have treated this as being "kalam", and we see in their text above that they inserted the word "kalam" in brackets, being their description of what was said by Ibn al-Mubaarak.

And what they intend to do here is to deceive the reader into thinking that this speech of Ibn al-Mubaarak is the same "ilm ul-kalaam" of which they are practitioners, and this is from their talbees (deception).

And regarding this we say:

• The saying of Ibn al-Mubaarak is not "kalam", rather it is a tafseer of the entirety of what is in the Book and the Sunnah of Allaah being outside of His creation, not merged with it, being above His Throne, ascended over it and his words "baa'inun min khalqihi" (separate and distinct from the creation) and "bi haddin" (with a demarcation) are purely a corroboration of what already exists in meaning in the Book and the Sunnah, and what is verbally stated by the Companions, upon Ijmaa', that Allaah is above the Throne - and it was understood by all Muslims that Allaah, with His Essence, is above the creation, separate and distinct from it.

  However, to these Jahmites, ascribing direction to Allaah, such as "aboveness" necessitates kufr, because anything in direction to them is a body (jism). And since this saying of Ibn al-Mubaarak and the Salaf does not benefit them and is against them from this angle, they are trying to salvage the situation and benefit from it through another angle. And this is by giving the reader the impression that this type of speech is from "ilm ul-kalaam", and to give the impression that Ibn al-Mubarak indulged in "kalam" in order to defend the creed. So they have a motive and a need to cloak the saying of Ibn al-Mubaarak and others from the Salaf with their own phraseology in order to deceive the Muslims. And this then allows them to justify their own theological speculation (ilm ul-kalaam) which is based upon the Metaphysics of the Greek Philosophers, as being a legitimate type of knowledge for speaking about Allaah.

• And as for this "Ilm ul-Kalam" that the Jahmites are upon, then that is speech regarding jawhar (substance), 'arad (incidental attribute), and jism (body) and tahayyuz (space occupation), and makan (place), and jihah (direction) and so on - and these are their terms for classifying the created universe. And then they used these concepts and classifications - [originally derived from the Greek Philosophers] - in order to prove to the atheists who were present in the Muslim lands of the createdness of the universe, and thereby the existence of a creator and therefore the possibility and veracity of prophethood and of resurrection. And these atheists and materialists present in the Muslim lands were the inheritors of that Greek philosophy and they were its proponents and they were conversant with it. So these Mutakallimoon wished to convince them through the philosophy and Metaphysics that those atheists were already conversant with - and then, they made this same philosophy and Metaphysics to be the criterion for what could and could not be said of Allaah.

  And this rational proof that they (the Mutakallimoon - Jahmiyyah, Mu'tazilah, Kullaabiyyah, Ash'ariyyah, Maturidiyyah) devised, which is arguing through the qualities (sifaat), incidental attributes (a'raad) and ocurrences (hawaadith) in bodies (ajsaam) to show that they are newly-arisen and created - then this is the most corrupt of proofs and it actually proves that there is no creator in reality, the very opposite of what they intend. And it is for this reason that they were forced to deny much of what Allaah described Himself with, subjecting it to ta'weel, on a selective basis, or subjecting it all in its entirety to tafweed.

• So their "ilm ul-kalaam" is centered around all of this. And this is the "ilm ul-kalaam" that the Salaf reprimanded and they scorned, reviled and abused anyone who indulged in it. And it is on the basis of this rational proof that the Jahmites claimed the Qur'aan is created, and that Allaah does not have actions tied to His will, and that Allaah will not be seen in the Hereafter, and that Allaah is not above the Throne and so on - because all of these, in their view, are incidental attributes (a'raad) and occurrences (hawaadith) that only created bodies are described with - and this creed was acquired by the Mu'tazilah and the Ash'ariyyah thereafter, and who expounded upon it further.

• And the Ash'ariyyah simply to tried to portray on the outside that they are not upon these beliefs, whereas in reality, their sayings are no different except that they devised layers of sophistry in between to try to make their views appear to be different from the Mu'tazilah. So "Allaah will be seen in the Hereafter" they say, but then they say, "but not in any direction", and "The Qur'aan is not created" they say, but what they mean is the "Kalaam Nafsee" which they claim resided with Allaah eternally and that what Allaah spoke to Jibreel and what Jibreel spoke to Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) and what he conveyed to the Ummah, which is what we know to be the Qur'an, then that is created, it is not the eternal speech of Allaah that resides within His Self which is the uncreated speech to them, and thus they are in agreement with the deen of the Jahmites and the Mu'tazilah in reality.

  So much of their creed is like this, it is taken from Ibn Kullaab (d. 240H) who is the Imaam of the Ash'ari Mutakallimoon, and who is held in high esteem by their earlier scholars, such as Ibn Fawrak (d. 406) in many of his books, and Ibn Kullaab tried to tread a middle ground between the Mu'tazilah and the Ahl ul-Hadeeth wal-Athar, and so he devised these intermediate views whose interior was in agreement with the deen of the Mu'tazilah, and whose exterior appeared to agree with Ahl us-Sunnah, and Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari adopted the madhhab of Ibn Kullaab, prior to accepting the creed of Ahl ul-Hadeeth wal-Athar in the last stage of his life.

So this is the "Ilm ul-Kalam" that they are upon and they deceptively attempt to portray that the likes of Ibn al-Mubaarak and his likes entered into this very same kalaam through their statements "baa'inun min khalqihi" or "bi dhaatihi" or "bi haddin" and this is talbees (deception) and it is intellectual fraud and this is how they try to dupe the unsuspecting people, and this is what the Philadelphian Jahmites are attempting here, fraud, in daylight broad.

Point 3b: Concerning "Place", and "Physically Stationed Relative to the Creation"

Concerning the saying of the Philadelphians in their attempt to argue for the deen of the Jahmites that there is no deity above the Throne:

Inwardly, his belief is exactly that of the Sahaba. His speech (kalam) was not for the purpose of ascribing for Allah a place or implying that he is physically stationed relative to his creation.

What the Jahmites intend here through these words is to abolish what is in the Qur'an and what is in the Sunnah, and what the Sahabah spoke with and what the entirety of the Salaf were upon, which is that Allaah has a true and real existence, outside of the creation, and that He, with His Essence, is above the creation, above the Throne, separate and distinct from it - the Jahmites here are intending to abolish all of that with the sophistry in these words - and you need to understand their talbees and tadlees in what they have uttered in this one sentence, and in explanation of this we say:

• Know that there is no escape for any Jahmee Mu'attil from affirming with a firm and resolute belief that Allaah has a true and real existence, outside of the mind, and outside of the created universe. That His existence is signified as a true and real existence by His dhaat (essence). And this means, that Allaah, with His Essence (dhaat), exists outside of the creation.

  No sooner do they accept this, and there is no way for them to escape from this, except that the relationship between the creation and Allaah is firmly established that Allaah is above His creation by inescapable conclusion from the sum of all textual evidences in the Sharee'ah, and unanimous agreement of the Salaf.

  And with this were all the previous Books revealed, and with this was the Qur'an revealed, and to this did the Prophets invite, and to this did the Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) invite and with this did the Sahabah speak, and with this did the Taabi'een speak and with this did the Imaams of the Salaf speak.

  Thus, when Ibn al-Mubaarak and all the Imaams and Scholars of the Salaf and after the Salaf, when they said, "baa'inun min khalqihi" and "bi dhaatihi", then this is what they established and meant. And it is regarding this that they said that anyone who denies Allaah is above His creation, above His Throne, is a kaafir.

• As for the Jahmites, then they declare this to be "physically stationed" (meaning position, location), and here we see their talbees (deception) in that they take a true and correct meaning in the Book and the Sunnah, and then allude to it, through phraseology, words and terms that are from their own Metaphysics and from their own invention, such as "physically stationed relative to the creation" - so they do not understand what Allaah affirmed for Himself EXCEPT through what they understand from the creation of the notions or jawhar (substance), 'arad (incidental attribute) jism (body), makan (location), jihah (direction), tahayyuz (space-occupation) and so on, which they have made to be the foundation of their religion.

• So the tasbheeh and tamtheel originates in their minds and hearts, so when they hear, "Allaah is above the Throne, with His Essence (bi dhaatihi)", in their minds, they do not conceive of Allaah except through how they have perceived the creation, and thus, they speak on these specific issues of belief through their own devised language. So "Allah being above the Throne, with His Essence" equals "Allaah is a body confined in space" - this is the reality of their saying. And thus, what the Jahmites really mean by their statement quoted above is this:

  We admit that Ibn al-Mubaarak made these statements and expressed these meanings that "Allaah is above the Throne, with His Essence, separate and distinct from the creation" - and this really grieves us and harms us and pains us, so we have to claim that he does not mean by this statement that Allaah exists above His creation - something we are deceptively trying to deny. And we can deceive the people through our own portrayal of what he means, with our own words, and we do this through our saying "His speech (kalam) was not for the purpose of ascribing for Allah a place or implying that he is physically stationed relative to his creation" and what we are doing here is that we are using our own language and terminology and phraseology in the characterization of this belief in order to demonize it and make it look repugnant in the eyes of those gullible and ignorant people we are trying to deceive.

  Thus, when the Salaf say, "bi dhaatihi", we are quick to say "they don't mean He is stationed above, relative to His creation", so by switching the manner of expression from the affirmatory phrase of the Salaf "He is above, with His Essence" to our negatory phrase, "He is not physically stationed above, relative to His creation", we are able to confuse the people and scare them into thinking that Allaah being above the heaven, above the Throne, with His Essence, is synonymous with declaring Him to be a body confined in space - but without any hint that we are accusing Ibn al-Mubaarak of claiming this - and we can simply say, "But hey! Ibn al-Mubaarak did not mean that". And thus can we deceive and confuse the gullible folk.

  And this is like what the Philosophers say to those who affirm the Attributes, "Affirming attributes for Allaah's Essence is tarkeeb (that Allaah is composed of parts)". So we don't care about their deceptions in portraying issues of belief through their own language and terminology in order to reject those clear issues of belief. This is what they are doing with the saying of the Salaf and the leading Imaams of the religion, "Allaah is above the Throne, with His Essence, separate and distinct from the creation". It grieves them that the Salaf said this,and it grieves them that the Salaf refuted their cousins, the Hulooli Jahmites through such words, and it pains them that there is in the speech of the Salaf what renders their sayings to be counterfeit and fraudulent.

Point 3c: Concerning The Initiation and Use of Such Explanatory Phrases by the Salaf

Regarding the saying of the Jahmites:

The fact that this statement of his was unknown during the time of the sahaba is proof that it came about after the Jahmiyyah's incorrect assertion that Allah is everywhere by his essence. Would our opponent conclude from this addition of his that Abdullah Ibn Mubaarak deviated in creed from the Sahaba?

And regarding this we say:

• Your opponents have not concluded anything from what the Salaf said except that they spoke with the manifest meaning of the Qur'aan and the Sunnah and in fact of all the revealed Books, that Allaah is above the Throne, with His Essence. However, what you are attempting to do here is to make out the saying of the Salaf and their Imaams "baa'inun min khalqihi" and "bi dhaatihi", that this is an instance of "ilm ul-kalaam". And based upon this, you want to legitimize the heretical Ilm ul-Kalam of which you are practitioners - that whose foundations are derived from the atheist Philosophers themselves. And then after you have portrayed the use of these expressions "bi dhaatihi" and "baa'inun min khalqihi" as being "Ilm ul-Kalam", you then want to imply that we - on account of our rejection of your "ilm ul-kalaam" - would find fault with the likes of Ibn al-Mubaarak and others, and claim that he deviated in creed because he indulged in what you claim to be Kalaam - and this is from your talbees which has been uncovered in broad daylight.

• The sayings of the Salaf "bi dhaatihi" and "baa'inun min khalqihi" were actually expressions of the known and established uncontested belief of the Muslims that it is Allaah Himself who is above the Throne, and above the Heaven. And this was never in dispute until Jahm bin Safwan came along, got confused by the Indian Philosophers and innovated Hulool (Allaah merged with the creation) and ta'teel (rejecting that Allaah can be described with anything), and then he instituted the deen of the Jahmites and the Jahmites found verses in the Qur'aan such as "He is Allaah in the Heavens and in the Earth", and "He is with you wherever you may be...", and "There is no secret counsel of three except that He is the fourth...", and using these verses they began to deceive the Muslims that Allaah, with His Essence, "bi dhaatihi" is in every place. So the Salaf said:

  You can hold it right there, Jahmee! Allaah Himself (the meaning of "bi dhaatihi") is above the Throne,, separate and distinct from His creation (baa'inun min khalqihi), and He Himself (the meaning of "bi dhaatihi") is not in every place but His knowledge is in every place.

• So what connection, pray tell, does this have with the "ilm ul-kalaam" that you have made to be the foundation of your religion, that of jawhar (substance), 'arad (incidental attribute), and jism (body) and tahayyuz (space occupation), and makan (place), and jihah (direction) and so on - on the basis of which you are deceptively trying to reject that which the very same Salaf who you are speaking about affirmed through the very same phrases and terms you are attempting to explain away? Absolutely nothing!