For indeed, with this word we did not affirm an additional attribute beyond what is in the Book and the Sunna; rather, we clarified by it what the invalidators suspended regarding the existence of the Lord Almighty, His separation from His creation, and the establishment of His reality.
And they say to them: The Book and the Sunna have indicated the meaning of that, as previously mentioned in the argumentation of Imam Aḥmad for that with what is in the Qur'an that indicates that God Almighty has a ḥadd by which He is distinguished from the created beings, and that between Him and the creation there is a detachment and separation, such that it is valid with it that the command ascends to Him, and rises to Him, and it is valid that He Himself comes and arrives, as we will establish this in its proper place, for the Qur'an indicates the meaning sometimes by correspondence, sometimes by implication, and sometimes by necessity.
And this meaning is indicated by the Qur'an by implication or necessity.
And none of the imams of the Sunna said that the Sunni is the one who does not speak except with the transmitted words whose meanings he does not understand; rather, whoever understands the meanings of the texts is more deserving of the Sunna than the one who does not understand them, and whoever repels what the invalidators say that contradicts those meanings and clarifies that the meanings of the texts necessitate the negation of those matters contradicting them, then he is more deserving of the Sunna than others. End quote.
And see likewise his speech in (2/157-169).
فإن هذا اللفظ لم نُثبت به صفة زائدة على ما في الكتاب والسُّنَّة، بل بيّنّا به ما عَطَّله المبطلون من وجود الرَّبِّ تعالى، ومُباينته لخلقه، وثبوت حقيقته.
ويقولون لهم: قد دَلَّ الكتابُ والسُّنَّة على معنى ذلك كما تقدم احتجاج الإمام أحمد لذلك بما في القرآن مما يدل على أن الله تعالى له حدٌّ يتميّز به عن المخلوقات، وأن بينه وبين الخلق انفصالًا ومُباينة، بحيث يصح معه أن يعرج الأمر إليه، ويصعد إليه، ويصح أن يجئ هو ويأتي كما سنقرر هذا في موضعه، فإن القرآن يدلُّ على المعنى تارة بالمطابقة، وتارة بالتَّضمن، وتارة بالالتزام.
وهذا المعنى يدلُّ عليه القرآن تضمنًا أو التزامًا.
ولم يقل أحد من أئمة السُّنَّة إن السُّنّي هو الذي لا يتكلّم إلّا بالألفاظ الواردة التي لا يفهم معناها بل مَن فهِم معاني النُّصوص فهو أحق بالسُّنَّة ممن لم يفهمها، ومن دفع ما يقوله المبطلون مما يعارض تلك المعاني وبين أن معاني النُّصوص تستلزم نفي تلك الأمور المعارضة لها فهو أحق بالسُّنَّة من غيره. اهـ
وانظر كذلك كلامه في (٢/ ١٥٧-١٦٩).
