Asāsut Taqdis (The Foundation of The Divine Sanctification)
Imam Fakhred-din Rāzi
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Chapter 1: Proof of Allah's Sūrat (Attribute, Shape)
Know that this name Sūrat (Attribute, Shape) never mentioned in Qur'an
but has entered into the Hadith (Prophetic Narration):
'Indeed Allah
created Adam according to Hu's/his
Sūrat (Form, Attribute)' said the Prophet.
الجامع الصغير.
الإصدار 3,22 - لجلال الدين السيوطي
المجلد الثالث >> باب: حرف الخاء
3928 - خلق الله آدم على صورته، وطوله ستون ذراعا، ثم قال: اذهب فسلم على
أولئك النفر - وهم نفر من الملائكة جلوس - فاستمع ما يحيونك فإنها تحيتك
وتحية ذريتك، فذهب فقال: السلام عليكم، فقالوا: السلام عليك ورحمة الله،
فزادوه "ورحمة الله" فكل من يدخل الجنة على صورة آدم طوله ستون ذراعا، فلم
تزل الخلق تنقص بعده حتى الآن
["خلق الله آدم على صورته": أي على صورة آدم التي كان عليها من مبدأ فطرته
إلى موته، لم تتفاوت قامته ولم تتغير هيئته، بخلاف بنيه فإن كلا منهم يكون
نطفة ثم علقة ثم مضغة ثم عظاما ... وقيل الضمير (راجع) لله تعالى، بقرينة
رواية "خلق آدم على صورة الرحمن (أي أعطاه من الصفات ما يوجد مسماها عند
الله عز وجل، كالموت والحياة والعلم والكلام والرحمة، والتي لم تعط
بمجموعها للحيوان ولا للملائكة ولا للجن، وإن كان الاشتراك فقط في مسميات
هذه الصفات وليس في عينها، حيث أن المشترك بين قدرة العبد وقدرة الخالق هو
الاسم فقط، وهكذا بشأن جميع الصفات، فقدرة الله غير مخلوقة وغير محدودة،
بينما قدرة العبد مخلوقة، محدودة، تحتاج على الدوام إلى الحي القيوم، الذي
يمسك السماء أن تقع على الأرض إلا بإذنه)]ـ
التخريج (مفصلا): أحمد في مسنده ومتفق عليه [البخاري ومسلم] عن أبي هريرة
تصحيح السيوطي: صحيح
Linguistically speaking, the sentence has several different options for
the pronoun:
1. Allah
created Adam according to 'his' Sūrat (Attribute, Shape) i.e. 'his' is
referring to a person other than Allah and Adam himself.
2. Allah created Adam according to 'his' Sūrat (Attribute, Shape) i.e.
'his' is referring to Adam himself.
3. Allah created Adam according to Hu's (ITs)
Sūrat (Attribute, Shape) i.e. Hu refers as the third person absent
pronoun towards Allah.
If the pronoun does not refer to Allah or Adam:
1. As the first human being, Adam is used in the Hadith to indicate the
features of 'his' pronoun are that of human being in general as we
know. Meaning
all humanity has the same features as Adam.
2. Some had said that Adam was a monstrously large creature that did
not resemble the current human beings; therefore the verbiage negates
that allegation, then saying that Adam was created according to 'his'
and
'his' to mean human being in general again. So Adam was not a monster.
If the pronoun does refer to Adam himself and this is the most
preferred and logical use of 'his':
1. Allah
created Adam and magnified him by commanding all angels to prostrate to
him and punish those who did not. However in return, if Adam did
something wrong the recompense was the highest, so when he disobeyed
and ate from the forbidden tree, Adam along side other creatures were
thrown out of the Paradise. In doing so Allah changed the other evicted
creature's creation when upon this earth e.g. peacock and snake while
left Adam,
honored, still in the original form. The use of pronoun 'his' means
that
Allah did not alter the primordial creation of Adam, upon descend on
this earth.
2. Some philosophers claim that human being as always been born from
the fetus and so on, so the use of 'his' in the Hadith indicates that
Adam was created in the original form of a human being without the
usual processes of biological inception.
3. Again the philosophers claim that human being went through very
large period of time and intervention of the cosmos and its substances
in order for the Man to be, 'his' here means Adam was created promptly
from 'his own blueprint' and from nothing else.
4. 'Allah
created Adam according to 'his' Sūrat (Attribute, Shape)' and 'his'
referring to Adam means that Allah created Adam without the
intervention of any other creature i.e. Allah was alone without the
help of anything else to create Adam. Otherwise the pronoun 'his' would
have changed into theirs or 'by means of theirs' and so on.
5. If Sūrat (Attribute, Shape) is to mean Attribute, the Hadith means
that Allah
created Adam according to 'his' or Adam's own noble design and
blueprint i.e. all the other human beings from the first to the last,
no matter what conditions do posses the nobility, knowledge and power
of Adam, peace be upon him.
If the pronoun does refer to Allah i.e.
Allah's Sūrat (Attribute, Shape), there are several interpretations:
1. Sūrat (Attribute, Shape) then means an Attribute like Mercy and so
on,
Attributes that Allah
bestowed upon Adam.
2. Allah's Sūrat
(Attribute, Shape) then would mean the grandness and superiority of the
said Attributes by juxtaposition to Allah's Name.
3. Al-Ghazali: Adam and the other human beings are not biological
beings, they are something that came from Allah and the
verbiage of the Hadith emphasize that.
4. Dara: Hu's Surat means that the blue-print for Adam came only from
Allah, and the possession pronoun means the blue-print belonged to
Allah.
©
2006-2002, Dara O. Shayda, Ahmad Bukhari