How can a word be shared while the realities it describes remain different?
2026-09-21
T39 · Ibn Taymiyyah
Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah
شيخ الإسلام أحمد بن تيمية
Selected explanation · Selected continuous excerpt — fully translated
One continuous paragraph from Ibn Taymiyyah's own explanation in the discussion of literal and figurative language. This translates the entire selected paragraph, not the entire discussion. The Arabic term istiwa is retained in the translation; the paragraph's subject is the distinction between a general term and its particular referent.
النص العربي
المقتطف
وكذلك إذا قيل: العلم، والقدرة، والكلام، والاستواء، والنزول، ونحو ذلك: تارة يذكر مطلقا عاما؛ وتارة يقال: علم الله وقدرته، وكلامه، ونزوله، واستواؤه، فهذا يختص بالخالق؛ لا يشركه فيه المخلوق. كما إذا قيل: علم المخلوق، وقدرته، وكلامه، ونزوله، واستواؤه، فهذا يختص بالمخلوق ولا يشركه فيه الخالق. فالإضافة أو التعريف خصص وميز وقطع الاشتراك بين الخالق والمخلوق.
English translation
English translation prepared for SalafAlSalih.com from the cited Arabic source. It is not an official translation.
Selected explanation
Likewise, when knowledge, power, speech, istiwa, descent, and similar terms are mentioned, they are sometimes mentioned in an unrestricted, general sense. At other times one says: Allah's knowledge, His power, His speech, His descent, and His istiwa. This is particular to the Creator; no created being shares it with Him. Similarly, when one says: a created being's knowledge, its power, its speech, its descent, and its istiwa, this is particular to the created being; the Creator does not share it with it. Thus the possessive construction or the use of a definite expression makes the reference specific, distinguishes it, and removes the sharing between Creator and creation.
Source and editorial notes
Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 20/443
مجموع الفتاوى
Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā
Selected Arabic passage and attribution checked in the cited source; English translates the whole displayed passage. Arabic diacritics omitted for display.