How should theological terms that are not themselves Qur'anic or Prophetic wording be handled?
2026-09-21
T45 · Ibn Taymiyyah
Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah
شيخ الإسلام أحمد بن تيمية
Selected explanation · Selected source passage(s) — fully translated
Selected continuous passage; light punctuation normalization has been applied for reading. The English translates every displayed Arabic paragraph; this selection is not the complete surrounding work. Square brackets identify translator-supplied clarification.
النص العربي
المقتطف
وَالْمَقْصُودُ هُنَا: أَنَّ أَئِمَّةَ السُّنَّةِ كَأَحْمَدَ بْنِ حَنْبَلٍ وَغَيْرِهِ كَانُوا إذَا ذَكَرَتْ لَهُمْ أَهْلُ الْبِدَعِ الْأَلْفَاظَ الْمُجْمَلَةَ: كَلَفْظِ الْجِسْمِ وَالْجَوْهَرِ وَالْحَيِّزِ وَنَحْوِهَا لَمْ يُوَافِقُوهُمْ لَا عَلَى إطْلَاقِ الْإِثْبَاتِ " وَلَا عَلَى إطْلَاقِ النَّفْيِ وَأَهْلُ الْبِدَعِ بِالْعَكْسِ ابْتَدَعُوا أَلْفَاظًا وَمَعَانِيَ إمَّا فِي النَّفْيِ وَإِمَّا فِي الْإِثْبَاتِ وَجَعَلُوهَا هِيَ الْأَصْلُ الْمَعْقُولُ الْمُحْكَمُ الَّذِي يَجِبُ اعْتِقَادُهُ وَالْبِنَاءُ عَلَيْهِ ثُمَّ نَظَرُوا فِي الْكِتَابِ وَالسُّنَّةِ فَمَا أَمْكَنَهُمْ أَنْ يَتَأَوَّلُوهُ عَلَى قَوْلِهِمْ تَأَوَّلُوهُ وَإِلَّا قَالُوا هَذَا مِنْ الْأَلْفَاظِ الْمُتَشَابِهَةِ الْمُشْكَلَةِ الَّتِي لَا نَدْرِي مَا أُرِيدَ بِهَا.
English translation
English translation reviewed against the displayed Arabic by SalafAlSalih editorial preparation (AI-assisted); explanatory additions appear in square brackets or separate notes.
Selected explanation
The point here is that when the people of innovation mentioned equivocal terms to the imams of the Sunnah, such as Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal and others—terms such as body, substance, spatial location, and the like—they did not agree with them either in unrestricted affirmation or in unrestricted negation. The people of innovation did the reverse: they invented terms and meanings, whether in negation or affirmation, and made them the definitive rational foundation that must be believed and built upon. Then they examined the Book and the Sunnah: whatever they could reinterpret to fit their position, they reinterpreted; otherwise, they said, “This is among the ambiguous, problematic expressions whose intended meaning we do not know.”
Source and editorial notes
Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā 17/306
مجموع الفتاوى
Majmūʿ al-Fatāwā
Arabic passage checked against the cited volume and printed page. English reviewed against every displayed Arabic paragraph on 14 October 2026.