Delving Into the Decree, and Two Types of Knowledge

The next point: wa-l-taʿammuqu wa-l-naẓaru fī dhālika dharīʿatu al-khidhlān, wa sullamu al-ḥirmān, wa darajatu al-ṭughyān. Fa-l-ḥadhara kulla al-ḥadhari min dhālika naẓaran wa fikran wa waswasah, fa-inna Allāha taʿālā ṭawā ʿilma al-qadari ʿan anāmih, wa nahāhum ʿan marāmih, kamā qāla Allāhu taʿālā fī kitābih: lā yusʾalu ʿammā yafʿalu wa hum yusʾalūn. Fa-man saʾala lima faʿal, fa-qad radda ḥukma al-kitāb, wa man radda ḥukma al-kitābi kāna min al-kāfirīn.

So far, this is the second place where Imam al-Ṭaḥāwī is very animated in his warning. One was the whole matter of trying to delve into the ambiguous matters, and the other is where he speaks about qadar. These are two things which are not for the human being, and that is why he is very serious about this. He says:

Delving into the decree is a means to spiritual loss, a descent into deprivation, and a path towards transgression. So beware and take every precaution against that, whether through perusal, ideation or suggestion (which means through either thinking about it, pondering over it, brooding, or suggesting such things). God, the Sublime and Exalted, has concealed knowledge of the decree from His creatures and has prohibited them from desiring it, as the Sublime said in His Book: He is not questioned about what He does; it is they who will be questioned. Hence, anyone who asks, "Why has He done this?"…

And when someone dies, some people who read this ask why He took only their son. Only their child? Could He not find somebody else's child to take? These are blasphemy. It is really, really wrong to say that.

Anyone who asks, "Why has He done this?" has rejected the judgment of the Book. And whoever rejects the judgment of the Book is among the disbelievers.

Fa-hādhā jumlatu mā yaḥtāju ilayhi man huwa munawwarun qalbuhu min awliyāʾi Allāhi taʿālā, wa hiya darajatu al-rāsikhīna fī al-ʿilm, li-anna al-ʿilma ʿilmān: ʿilmun fī al-khalqi mawjūd, wa ʿilmun fī al-khalqi mafqūd. Fa-inkāru al-ʿilmi al-mawjūdi kufr, wa iddiʿāʾu al-ʿilmi al-mafqūdi kufr, wa lā yathbutu al-īmānu illā bi-qabūli al-ʿilmi al-mawjūd, wa tarki ṭalabi al-ʿilmi al-mafqūd.

Point 59 says:

Article 59. The above epitomizes what one with an illuminated heart among the protected of Allah needs.

So all that has been set out above is what anyone who wants to be a walī of Allah, a friend of Allah, needs. This is all of it.

In addition, it is the rank of the deeply rooted in knowledge, given that knowledge is of two types (knowledge is of two types): the humanly accessible and the humanly inaccessible.

So one knowledge is that which we can comprehend; the other is that which we cannot comprehend.

To either deny accessible knowledge or to claim the inaccessible is disbelief.

So we have to be very careful in the way we deal with these types of knowledge. If it is accessible, we cannot deny it, as with the ṣifāt. And if we claim the inaccessible, then that is also problematic.

Faith isn't sound unless accessible knowledge is embraced and the pursuit of the inaccessible is abandoned.

He reiterates things using different words. This has already been discussed.

We believe in the pen and the tablets and in all that was inscribed.

Again, what was inscribed were descriptions of things that were to happen, based on what Allah (swt) knew was going to happen.