Imam al-Shawkānī on the Khalq al-Qurʾan controversy: The topic of whether the Qurʾan is pre-eternal (qadīm) or emergent (ḥādith) was a trial for many virtuous scholars during the reigns of al-Maʾmūn, al-Muʿtaṣim, and al-Wāthiq. As a result, Imam Aḥmad had to endure severe beatings and lengthy imprisonment, Aḥmad b. Naṣr al-Khuzāʿī was beheaded, and great strife ensued in that period and what followed. This chapter of history is too well known to require mentioning here, but anyone who would like to become acquainted with it may read Imam Aḥmad’s biographical entry in al-Dhahabī’s Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ. The scholars of hadith were correct in refusing to acquiesce to the position advocating the Qurʾan’s emergence and createdness, and through them, Allah saved the community of His prophet ﷺ from reprehensible innovation (bidʿa). However, [some of] them, may Allah have mercy on them, went beyond this to categorically assert that the Qurʾan is preeternal, going so far as to pronounce takfīr against those who believed it to be emergent. [Some] went beyond this and pronounced takfīr against those who say “my utterance of the Qurʾan is created,” others even excommunicating those who chose not to take a particular stance. If only they had confined themselves to refraining from adopting a position and consigned the matter to the Knower of the Unseen, for none of the righteous predecessors from the time of the Companions and Successors and succeeding generations are reported to have addressed the issue at all until it arose during the Miḥna (Muʿtazilī inquisition). The best course of action would have been to refuse to submit to the opinion they (the rulers) promoted, avoid taking a position altogether, and consign its knowledge to its Knower. That way, a person will be safe and steer clear of declaring groups of Allah’s servants to be unbelievers. (Fatḥ al-Qadīr, sub Q 21:2)
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 08:15:37 +0000
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