and others, may Allah have mercy on them, went to the view that (al-ʿamāʾ) is elongated (with madd), and its meaning in the speech of the Arabs is: white clouds.
Al-Azharī, may Allah have mercy on him, said in Tahdhīb al-Lugha (3/2578): This view is strengthened by the statement of God Almighty:
{Do they await but that God should come to them in canopies of clouds} [Al-Baqara: 210].
2- Yazīd b. Hārūn went, and al-Tirmidhī, may Allah have mercy on him, followed him, to the view that the word (ʿamāʾ) is with madd; but its meaning in the hadith is: there is nothing with God.
[See: Bayān Talbīs al-Jahmiyya (1/464)]
I say: This is attested to by what al-Bukhārī (7418) narrated from ʿImrān, may God be pleased with him, from the Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him: "God existed and there was nothing before Him, and His Throne was upon the water," and in another wording: "and there was nothing with Him."
3- And al-Aṣmaʿī has another opinion; he said: It is possible that the meaning of the hadith "in ʿamā" is: meaning that it was obscured (ʿamiya) from the scholars how He was. Ibn Baṭṭa transmitted it from him in al-Ibāna al-Kubrā (2686).
And the meaning is: that He was where the intellects of the children of Adam cannot perceive Him, nor can any description reach His true nature. End quote.
And perhaps from this is the statement of God Almighty regarding the effect of the Qur'an on the disbelievers: {and it is for them a blindness} [Fuṣṣilat: 44].
Al-Dhahabī transmitted in al-ʿUluw (1/276): Al-Ḥasan b. ʿImrān al-Ḥanẓalī al-Harawī said:
I heard Abū al-Haytham Khālid b. Yazīd al-Rāzī say: Abū ʿUbayd erred; rather, al-ʿamā is shortened (without madd), and it is not known where the Lord was before creating the Throne. End quote.
I say: Al-Aṣmaʿī and others before Abū ʿUbayd had established it with madd by way of narration, and interpreted it by way of understanding.
Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, said in Ijtimāʿ al-Juyūsh (p. 235): Abū al-Qāsim [Khalaf b. ʿAbd Allāh al-Muqriʾ al-Andalusī] said: (al-ʿamāʾ) is elongated and it is clouds, and (al-ʿamā) is shortened: darkness. The hadith has been narrated with both elongation and shortening. Whoever narrated it with elongation, its meaning according to him is: He was in ʿamāʾ (clouds), a cloud with air below it and air above it, and the pronoun refers back to the ʿamāʾ. And whoever narrated it with shortening, its meaning according to him is: He was in ʿamā (obscurity) from His creation; because whoever is blind (ʿamiya) to something, it has become dark to him. End quote.
وغيرهم رحمهم الله إلى أن (العَمَاء) ممدود، ومعناه في كلام العرب: السَّحاب الأبيض.
قال الأزهري رحمه الله في «تهذيب اللغة» (٣/ ٢٥٧٨): ويقوي هذا القول قول الله تعالى:
﴿هَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا أَنْ يَأْتِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي ظُلَلٍ مِنَ الْغَمَامِ﴾ [البقرة: ٢١٠].
٢- ذهب يزيد بن هارون، وتبعه الترمذي رحمه الله أن لفظة: (عَمَاء) بالمَدِّ؛ ولكن معناها في الحديث: ليس مع الله شيء.
[وانظر: «بيان تلبيس الجهمية» (١/ ٤٦٤)]
قلت: ويشهد لهذا ما رواه البخاري (٧٤١٨) عن عمران رضي الله عنه عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: «كـان اللهُ ولـم يكن شيءٌ قبله، وكان عرشه على الماء»، وفي لفظ: «ولـم يكن شيءٌ معه».
٣- وللأصمعي قولٌ آخر، قال: يجوز أن يكون معنى الحديث في عَمى: أي أنه عَمى على العلماء كيف كان. نقله عنه ابن بطة في «الإبانة الكبرى» (٢٦٨٦).
- قال الأزهري رحمه الله في «تهذيب اللغـة» (٣/ ٢٥٧٧): وقـد بلغنـي عـن أبي الهيثم ولم يعزه لي إليه ثقة، أنه قال في تفسير هذا الحديث ولفظه: أنه كان في عَمى مقصور. قال: وكل أمرٍ لا تدركه القلوب بالعقول فهو عَمًى. قال:
والمعنـى: أنـه كان حيث لا تدركه عقول بني آدم، ولا يبلغ كنهه وصف). اهـ
ولعل منه قوله تعالى في أثر القرآن على الكفار: ﴿وَهُوَ عَلَیۡهِمۡ عَمًى﴾ [فصلت: ٤٤].
ونقل الذهبي في «العلو» (١/ ٢٧٦): قال الحسن بن عمران الحنظلي الهـروي:
سمعت أبا الهيثم خالد بن يزيد الرازي يقول: أخطأ أبو عبيد، إنـما العَمَى مقصور، ولا يُدرى أين كان الرَّب قبل خلق العرش. اهـ
قلت: قد ضبطه الأصمعي وغيره قبل أبي عبيد بالمد رواية، وفسروه دراية.
