Al-Mufid on Hisham Ibnu l-Hakam and his transgression.

Ash-Sharif Al-Murtada writes:

قُـلْـتُ فَـإِنِّـي لَا أَزَالُ أَسْـمَـعُ الْـمُـعْـتَـزِلَـةَ يَـدَّعُـونَ عَـلَـى أَسْـلَافِـنَـا أَنَّـهُـمْ كَـانُـوا كُـلُّـهُـمْ مُـشَـبِّـهَـةً وَأَسْـمَـعُ الْـمُـشَـبِّـهَـةَ مِـنَ الْـعَـامَّـةِ يُـقُـولُـونَ مِـثْـلَ ذَلِـكَ وَأَرَى جَـمَـاعَـةً مِـنْ أَصْـحَـابِ الْـحَـدِيـثِ مِـنَ الْإِمَـامِـيَّـةِ يُـطَـابِـقُـونَـهُـمْ عَـلَـى هَـذِهِ الْـحِـكَـايَـةِ وَيَـقُـولُـونَ إِنَّ نَـفْـيَ الـتَّـشْـبِـيـهِ إِنَّـمَـا أَخَـذْنَـاهُ مِـنَ الْـمُـعْـتَـزِلَـةِ فَـأُحِـبُّ أَنْ تَـرْوِيَ لِـي حَـدِيـثًـا يُـبْـطِـلُ ذَلِـكَ

,,I said: ,,Unceasingly I hear the Mu’tazilah claiming about our ancestors that they were all anthropomorphists and I hear the anthropomorphists among the general public saying the same and I see that a crowd of the traditionalists from the Imamites agree with them and say that we merely adopted the negation of anthropomorphism from the Mu’tazilah. Now I would like you to tell me a saying that invalidates that.”

فَـقَـالَ (الْـمُـفِـيـدُ) هَـذِهِ الـدَّعْـوَى كَـالْأُولَـى وَلَـمْ يَـكُـنْ فِـي سَـلَـفِـنَـا رَحِـمَـهُـمُ الـلَّـهُ مَـنْ يَـدِيـنُ بِـالـتَّـشْـبِـيـهِ مِـنْ طَـرِيـقِ الْـمَـعْـنَـى وَإِنَّـمَـا خَـالَـفَ هِـشَـامٌ وَأَصْـحَـابُـهُ جَـمَـاعَـةَ أَبِـي عَـبْـدِ الـلَّـهِ (الـصَّـادِقِ) عَـلَـيْـهِ الـسَّـلَامُ بِـقَـوْلِـهِ فِـي الْـجِـسْـمِ فَـزَعَـمَ أَنَّ الـلَّـهَ تَـعَـالَـى جِـسْـمٌ لَا كَـالْأَجْـسَـامِ وَقَـدْ رُوِيَ أَنَّـهُ رَجَـعَ عَـنْ هَـذَا الْـقَـوْلِ بَـعْـدَ ذَلِـكَ وَقَـدِ اخْـتَـلَـفَـتِ الْـحِـكَـايَـاتُ عَـنْـهُ وَلَـمْ يَـصِـحَّ مِـنْـهَـا إِلَّا مَـا ذَكَـرْتُ وَأَمَّـا الـرَّدُّ عَـلَـى هِـشَـامٍ وَالْـقَـوْلُ بِـنَـفْـيِ الـتَّـشْـبِـيـهِ فَـهُـوَ أَكْـثَـرُ مِـنْ أَنْ يُـحْـصَـى مِـنَ الـرِّوَايَـةِ عَـنْ آلِ مُـحَـمَّـدٍ عَـلَـيْـهِـمُ الـسَّـلَامُ

,,Then he (Al-Mufid) said: This assertion is like the previous one and among our predecessors, God have mercy on them, there was no one who believed in anthropomorphism by means of the expression and only Hisham and his companions deviated from the community of Abu Abdillah (As-Sadiq) by his statement about the body. Thus, he claimed that God is a body but not like the bodies and it has been narrated that he revised this statement. The narrations about him vary and none of them are true except what I quoted and as for the answer to Hisham as well as the statement of negation of anthropomorphism, there are more narrations from the family of Muhammad (a.) than you can count.”

أَخْـبَـرَنِـي أَبُـو الْـقَـاسِـمِ جَـعْـفَـرُ بْـنُ مُـحَـمَّـدِ بْـنِ قَـوْلَـوَيْـهِ رَحِـمَـهُ الـلَّـهُ عَـنْ مُـحَـمَّـدِ بْـنِ يَـعْـقُـوبَ عَـنْ مُـحَـمَّـدِ بْـنِ أَبِـي عَـبْـدِ الـلَّـهِ عَـنْ مُـحَـمَّـدِ بْـنِ إِسْـمَـاعِـيـلَ عَـنِ الْـحُـسَـيْـنِ بْـنِ الْـحَـسَـنِ عَـنْ بَـكْـرِ بْـنِ صَـالِـحٍ وَالْـحَـسَـنِ ابْـنِ سَـعِـيـدٍ عَـنْ عَـبْـدِ الـلَّـهِ بْـنِ الْـمُـغِـيـرَةِ عَـنْ مُـحَـمَّـدِ بْـنِ زِيَـادٍ قَـالَ سَـمِـعْـتُ يُـونُـسَ بْـنَ ظَـبْـيَـانَ يَـقُـولُ دَخَـلْـتُ عَـلَـى أَبِـي عَـبْـدِ الـلَّـهِ عَـلَـيْـهِ الـسَّـلَامُ فَـقُـلْـتُ لَـهُ: إِنَّ هِـشَـامَ بْـنَ الْـحَـكَـمِ يَـقُـولُ فِـي الـلَّـهِ عَـزَّ وَجَـلَّ قَـوْلًا عَـظِـيـمًـا إِلَّا أَنِّـي أَخْـتَـصِـرُ لَـكَ مِـنْـهُ أَحْـرُفًـا يَـزْعَـمُ أَنَّ الـلَّـهَ سُـبْـحَـانَـهُ جِـسْـمٌ لَا كَـالْأَجْـسَـامِ لِأَنَّ الْأَشْـيَـاءَ شَـيْـئَـانِ جِـسْـمٌ وَفِـعْـلُ الْـجِـسْـمِ فَـلَا يَـجُـوزُ أَنْ يَـكُـونَ الـصَّـانِـعُ بِـمَـعْـنَى الْـفِـعْـلِ وَيَـجِـبُ أَنْ يَـكُـونَ بِـمَـعْـنَـى الْـفَـاعِـلِ فَـقَـالَ أَبُـو عَـبْـدِ الـلَّـهِ عَـلَـيْـهِ الـسَّـلَامُ: يَـا وَيْـحَـهُ أَمَـا عَـلِـمَ أَنَّ الْـجِـسْـمَ مَـحْـدُودٌ مُـتَـنَـاهٍ مُـحْـتَـمِـلٌ لِـلزِّيَـادَةِ وَالـنُّـقْـصَـانِ وَمَـا اْحَـتَـمَـلَ ذَلِـكَ كَـانَ مَـخْـلُـوقًـا فَـلَـوْ كَـانَ الـلَّـهُ تَـعَـالَـى جِـسْـمًا لَـمْ يَـكُـنْ بَـيْـنَ الْـخَـالِـقِ وَالْـمَـخْـلُـوقِ فَـرْقٌ فَـهَـذَا قَـوْلُ أَبِـي عَـبْـدِ الـلَّـهِ عَـلَـيْـهِ الـسَّـلَامُ وَحُـجَّـتُـهُ عَـلَـى هِـشَـامٍ فِـيَـمَـا اَعْـتَـلَّ بِـهِ هِـشَـامٌ مِـنَ الْـمَـقَـالِ فَـكَـيْـفَ نَـكُـونُ قَـدْ أَخَـذْنَـا ذَلِـكَ عَـنِ الْـمُـعْـتَـزِلَـةِ لَـوْلَا قِـلَّـةُ الـدِّيـنِ

,,I was told by Abu l-Qasim Ja’far Ibn Muhammad Ibn Qawlawaih, God have mercy on him, from Muhammad Ibn Ya’qub, from Muhammad Ibn Abdillah, from Muhammad Ibn Isma’il, from Husain Ibn Hasan, from Bakr Ibn Salih and Hasan Ibn Sa’id, from Abdullah Ibn Mughirah, from Muhammad Ibn Ziyad, who said: I heard Yunus ibn Zabyan say: I approached Abu Abdillah (a. ), whereupon I said to him: ﴾Hisham Ibnu l-Hakam makes an outrageous statement about God. However, I will give you some of it in an abridged version. He claims that God is a body but not like the bodies, because the things are of two kinds: a body or the action of a body. Thus, by the Creator cannot be meant an action and by Him must be meant the doer.﴿ Then Abu Abdillah (a.) said: ﴾O woe unto him, did he not know that the body is limited, finite, and susceptible to increase and decrease? And what is susceptible to this is a creation. Now if God were a body, then there would be no difference between the Creator and creature.﴿ This is the statement of Abu Abdillah (a.) and his argument against Hisham because of what he put forward as a pretext. So how would we have taken this from the Mu’tazilah? Were it not for the lack of religiosity.” [Al-Hikayat, page 77 – 81]