Idtirab al-Nas fi Masalat al-Kalam ma Bayan al-Haqq alladhi Tadullu alayhi al-Adilla wa Tashhadu bihi al-Fitar al-Salima
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- Islamic University of Madinah
Idtirab al-Nas fi Masalat al-Kalam ma Bayan al-Haqq alladhi Tadullu alayhi al-Adilla wa Tashhadu bihi al-Fitar al-Salima (The Disarray of People Concerning the Issue of Speech, Along with an Exposition of the Truth Indicated by Proofs and Attested by Sound Human Nature) is a theological treatise authored by Abd al-Karim Murad, an associate professor at the Faculty of Sharia . The work provides a concise overview of the conflicting doctrines regarding the nature of divine speech (kalam Allah) across different theological and philosophical schools, contrasting them with the position of early Muslim scholars (al-salaf) .
Definition of Speech and Divine Attribution
The author begins by defining speech (al-kalam) and utterance (al-qawl) as synonymous terms that, according to linguistic convention and customary usage, denote both wording (lafz) and meaning (ma'na) together . He notes that legal theorists across the four Sunni legal schools maintained that commands and prohibitions consist of both wording and meaning, citing Ibn Qudamah’s Rawdat al-Nazir to reject the claim that speech is merely an internal meaning subsisting in the self . The treatise affirms that speech is an established attribute of perfection for God, attested by all prophets and messengers, and clarifies that sharing nominal terms between the Creator and creation in a general sense does not entail anthropomorphism (tashbih), as specific attribution to God designates attributes that befit His majesty without resemblance to created beings .
Doctrines on Divine Speech
The treatise categorizes and critiques the various divergent doctrines concerning the reality of divine speech:
- Philosophers: Figures such as al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi held that revelation is an emanation (fayd) of meanings flowing from the celestial realm into noble souls through the active intellect, interpreting prophetic hearing as internal cognitive and imaginative faculties rather than an external divine address .
- Proponents of the Unity of Being (Wahdat al-Wujud): Followers of Ibn Arabi and Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi maintained that all speech in existence—whether truth or falsehood, poetry or prose—is identical with God's speech, a view stemming from their belief that God is the essence of existence itself .
- Jahmites and Mu'tazilites: They denied that speech subsists in God's essence, asserting instead that God speaks by creating articulated letters and sounds in external physical bodies. The treatise quotes al-Qadi Abd al-Jabbar's al-Mughni fi Abwab al-Tawhid wa-l-Adl and traces the origins of this view to al-Ja'd ibn Dirham and Jahm ibn Safwan .
- Karramiyya: The followers of Muhammad ibn Karram al-Sijistani (d. 255 AH) argued that God's speech consists of originated letters and sounds that He spoke through will and power after not having been speaking .
- Salimiyya: The followers of Muhammad ibn Ahmad Salim (d. 297 AH) maintained that God's speech consists of pre-eternal (azali) letters and sounds subsisting in His essence alongside their meanings .
- Kullabiyya and Ash'arites: Founded by Ibn Kullab, this school posited that divine speech is a single, indivisible, eternal meaning subsisting in God's essence (kalam nafsi), devoid of letters or audible sound, which becomes the Torah when expressed in Hebrew, the Gospel in Syriac, or the Quran in Arabic. The author cites Sayf al-Din al-Amidi's Ghayat al-Maram and the commentary on al-Mawaqif to illustrate their doctrine, arguing that it logically leads to regarding the revealed Arabic Quran as created .
The Salafi Position
The work concludes by articulating the position of the scholars of the Sunnah and Hadith, such as Ahmad ibn Hanbal and al-Bukhari . According to this view, speech is an attribute of both God's essence and His actions (sifat dhat wa-fi'l), pre-eternal in its kind yet instantiated in its individual acts (qadim al-naw' hadith al-afrad) . God speaks whenever and however He wills, with letters and an audible voice (bi-harf wa-sawt), as demonstrated by scriptural texts on divine calling (nida'), revelation, the intercession, and the accounts of the Ascension (al-Mi'raj) .
Sources
The treatise draws upon classical and later theological and legal works, including Ibn Taymiyyah's Majmu al-Fatawa, al-Risalah al-Tadmuriyyah, and al-Risalah al-Hamawiyyah; Ibn al-Qayyim's theological poem al-Kafiyah al-Shafiyah (known as al-Nuniyyah) and Mukhtasar al-Sawa'iq al-Mursalah; Ibn Abi al-Izz's Sharh al-Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah; al-Amidi's Ghayat al-Maram; and al-Qadi Abd al-Jabbar's al-Mughni .
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