Mīzān al-Ḥikma

The Law of Causality

Volume 1 2 narrations
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Creation/Signs of God 2 Divine Knowledge 1

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hadith 869
Imam al-Baqir (AS) was asked by a scholar from Damascus, ‘So, the thing, did He create it from something else or from nothing? The Imam replied, ‘He created a thing whereby nothing existed before it. Were He to have created from something then there would be infinite regress and there would always have been something existing alongside Allah when in actual fact Allah existed when nothing else was in existence.
الإمامُ الباقرُ (عَلَيهِ الّسَلامُ) ـ وقد سألَهُ رجُلٌ مِن عُلَماءِ أهلِ الشّامِ : ... فالشَّيْءُ خَلقَهُ مِن شَيْءٍ أو مِن لا شَيءٍ ؟ ـ : خَلقَ الشَّيْءَ لا مِن شَيْءٍ كانَ قَبلَهُ . ولَو خَلقَ الشَّيْءَ مِن شَيْءٍ ، إذا لَم يَكُنْ لَهُ انْقِطاعٌ أبداً ، ولَم يَزَلِ اللّهُ إذا ومَعهُ شَيْءٌ ، ولكنْ كانَ اللّهُ ولا شَيْءَ مَعهُ.
Tags Creation/Signs of God
hadith 870
Imam al-Sadiq (AS) when asked by Abu Shakir al-Dayssni, ‘What is the proof that you have a creator? The Imam (AS) answered, ‘I found within myself that there can only be one of two possibilities, that either I created everything myself or that someone other than me created, so if I created, then that can only mean one of two possibilities, either I created and that thing was in existence beforehand or I created it from non-existence, so if I created and that thing was already in existence beforehand then it is free of any need to be created by the fact that it already exists. If the thing was in non-existence then surely you know that non-existence cannot bring about anything into existence. Thus, the third meaning affirms that I have a creator and He is Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Then Abu Shakir had no response to the Imam (AS) so he stood up and left.
الإمامُ الصّادقُ (عَلَيهِ الّسَلامُ) ـ لمّا سألَهُ أبو شاكرٍ الدَّيْصانيُّ : ما الدّليلُ على أنّ لكَ صانِعاً ؟ ـ : وَجَدتُ نَفْسي لا تَخْلو مِن إحْدى جِهَتَينِ : إمّا أنْ أكون صَنَعْتُها أنا أو صَنَعَها غَيري ؛ فإن كنتُ صَنَعتُها أنا فلا أخْلو مِن أحدِ مَعْنَيَينِ ، إمّا أنْ أكونَ صَنَعتُها وكانتْ مَوجودَةً أو صَنَعْتُها وكانتْ مَعْدومَةً ، فإنْ كنتُ صَنَعْتُها وكانتْ مَوجودةً فَقَدِ اسْتَغْنَتْ بوجودِها عن صَنْعَتِها ، و إن كانتْ مَعْدومَةً فإنّكَ تَعلمُ أنّ المَعْدومَ لا يُحْدِثُ شَيئاً ، فقد ثَبَتَ المَعنى الثّالثُ أنّ لي صانِعاً وهُو اللّهُ رَبُّ العالَمِينَ ، فقامَ وما أحارَ جَواباً.
Tags Divine KnowledgeCreation/Signs of God