And the word "Al-Ḥadd" in this regard is more well-known in the language, general custom, and the like.
And since the Jahmiyya say what implies: The Creator is not distinguished from the creation, so they deny His attributes by which He is distinguished, and they deny His measure, to the point that the Mu'tazilites say: If they know that He is: living, knowing, capable, we have known His reality and essence.
And they say: He is not separate from other than Him; rather, they either describe Him with the attribute of the non-existent, saying: Neither inside the world, nor outside it, nor such-and-such, nor such-and-such, or they make Him indwelling within the created beings, or the very existence of the created beings.
So Ibn al-Mubārak clarified that the Lord, Glorified and Exalted be He, is upon His Throne, separate from His creation, detached from it, and he mentioned Al-Ḥadd; because the Jahmiyya used to say: "He has no ḥadd," and whatever has no ḥadd does not separate from the created beings, nor is it above the world; because that necessitates Al-Ḥadd.
So when they asked the Commander of the Believers in everything, ʿAbd Allāh b. al-Mubārak: By what do we know Him? He said: By the fact that He is above His heavens upon His Throne, separate from His creation. So they mentioned to him the necessary consequence of that which the Jahmiyya deny, and by their denial of it they deny its necessary antecedent, which is His existing above the Throne and His separation from the created beings, so they said to him: With a ḥadd? He said: With a ḥadd.
And this is understood by everyone who knows the difference between the statement of the believers, the people of the Sunna and the congregation, and the heretical Jahmiyya.
2 - The second aspect: His statement: "The path of these people is to know that the attributes of God
ولفظ (الحدِّ) في هذا أشهرُ في اللغة والعُرْف العام ونحو ذلك.
ولما كان الجهمية يقولون ما مضمونه: إن الخالقَ لا يتميَّز عن الخلقِ، فيجحدون صفاته التي تميَّز بها، ويجحدون قدره، حتى يقول المعتزلة: إذا عرفوا أنه: حيٌّ، عالمٌ، قديرٌ، قد عرفنا حقيقته وماهيته.
ويقولون: إنه لا يُباين غيرَه، بل إما أن يصفوه بصفة المعدوم فيقولون: لا داخل العالم، ولا خارجه، ولا كذا، ولا كذا، أو يجعلوه حالًّا في المخلوقات، أو وجود المخلوقات.
فبيَّن ابن المبارك أن الرَّبَّ سبحانه وتعالى على عرشه مُباينٌ لخلقِه، مُنفصلٌ عنه، وذكر الحدَّ؛ لأن الجهمية كانوا يقولون: (ليس له حدٌّ)، وما لا حدَّ له لا يُباين المخلوقات، ولا يكون فوق العالم؛ لأن ذلك مُستلزمٌ للحدِّ).
فلما سألوا أميرَ المؤمنين في كُلِّ شيءٍ عبدَ الله بن المبارك: بماذا نعرفه؟
قال: بأنه فوقَ سَمواته على عرشه، بائنٌ من خلقه.
فذكروا له لازمَ ذلك الذي تنفيه الجهمية، وبنفيهم له ينفون ملزومه الذي هو موجود فوق العرش ومُباينته للمخلوقات، فقالوا له: بحدٍّ؟
قال: بحدٍّ.
وهذا يفهمه كُلُّ مَن عرف ما بين قول المؤمنين أهلِ السُّنَّة والجماعة، وبين الجهمية الملاحدة من الفَرْق.
٢ - الوجه الثاني: قوله: (سبيل هؤلاء أن يعلموا أن صفات الله
