An Examination of the Report Attributed to Imam Riḍā A.S. Concerning the Applicability of Divine Omnipotence to Logical Impossibilities

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Theology and Religions, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Master's student, Department of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Theology and Religions, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract
Believers believe in the guidance of reason and in the explicitness of the Quran and traditions that God has the power to accomplish everything. Their belief has faced a challenge of this kind: does this belief even include impossible things (such as the heavens and the earth and what is between them being swallowed in a seed)? The issuance of which requires the occurrence of things such as the placement of large objects in small objects. At different times, numerous people (Iblis, Abu Shakir Disani, etc.) have asked this question of Jesus Christ, Imam Ali, Imam Sadiq, and Imam Reza (peace be upon them). In one of these narrations, which Ibn Babawayh attributed to Imam Reza A.S. in his book Al-Tawhid, the Imam explicitly gave a positive answer to this question (inherent possibility) and emphasized its occurrence (in the form of an analogy of the reflection of the form of large objects in the eye). The present article seeks to examine this statement and its attribution to Imam Reza A.S. and, in the first step, attempts to examine its chain of transmission and meaning.
In the second step, he shows evidence from the Quran and narrations that confirm it. In the third step, this article highlights the challenges that we will face if we adhere to and accept this narration. (Incompatibility with the obvious rule of reason, conflict with numerous narrations, etc.) and in the last step, it tries to provide an aspect (such as the Imam’s response relying on the weakness of the questioner’s understanding) for the possibility of accepting this news and the possibility of its issuance by Imam Reza A.S..

Keywords

Subjects

The Holy Quran.
Ibn Babawiyyah, Muhammad ibn Ali, (1995), Al-Tawhid, Qom, Jamia al-Modaresin. ]in Arabic[.
Ibn Babawiyyah, Muhammad ibn Ali, (1997), Ma’ani al-Akhbar, Qom, Jamia al-Modaresin.]in Arabic.[
Ibn Abd al-Barr, Yusuf ibn Abdullah, (1993), Jamia Bayan al-Ilm wa Fadlah, Riyadh, Dar Ibn al-Jawzi.]in Arabic[.
Ibn ‘Ajibah, (1998), Al-Bahr al-Madid fi Tafsir al-Quran al-Majid, Cairo, published by Dr. Hassan Abbas Zaki.]in Arabic.[
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, (-), Miftah Dar al-Sa’ada, Beirut, Dar al-Kutb al-Ilmiyah.]in Arabic[.
Abu al-Ashbal al-Zuhairi, (-), Sharh usul al-Iqtid Ahl al-Sunnah al-Lalqa’i, Alexandria, Dar al-Basayrah School. ]in Arabic[.
Ardakani, Muhammad Ali, (-), Asrar al-Tawhid, Tehran, Islamic Islamic School of Publications. ]in Arabic.[
Jazayeri, Nematullah, (2008), Anwar al-Nu’maniyah, Beirut, Dar al-Qari. ]in Arabic[
Jazayeri, Nematullah, (2004), Stories of the Prophets, Dar al-Fiqh]in Arabic[.
Jazayeri, Nematullah, (2009), Noor al-Buraheen, Qom, Jamia al-Modaresin.]in Arabic.[
Khasibi, Hussein bin Hamdan, (1998), Al-Hidayah al-Kubra, Nashr al-Balagh.]in Arabic[.
Khatib Baghdadi, Al-Faqih wa al-Mafqih, (2000), Al-Saudiah, Dar Ibn al-Jawziyyah.]in Arabic.[
Sabzewari, Hadi bin Mahdi, (1997), Rasael al-Hakim Sabzewari, Tehran Aswah.]in Persian.[
Sharif Murtaza, ‘Ilm al-Huda (1984), Rasael al-Sharif al-Murtada, Qom, Dar al-Quran al-Karim. in Arabic[.
Sheikh Tusi, (1985), Tahdhib al-Ahkam, Tehran, Dar al-Kutub al-Islami.
Sheikh Tusi, (1994), Al-Rijal, Qom, Jamia al-Modaresin.]in persian[.
Sheikh Tusi, (1992), Al-Ghaybah, Qom, Dar al-Ma’arif al-Islami. in Arabic.[
Sheikh Tusi, (1999), list of books of the Shia and their principles and the names of the scholars and the people of the principles, Qom, al-Muhaqq al-Tabataba'i school.]in Arabic.[
Sheikh Ali Kabir, Ali bin Muhammad, (1977), Al-Dar al-Munthur Man al-Mathur and Ghir al-Mathur, Qom, School of Ayatollah al-Marashi. ]n Arabic[.
Sheikh Mofid, (1992), Al-Khatsas, Qom, Al-Anqar-e-Islami Lalfiya Al-Sheikh Al-Mofid.]in Arabic.[
Assar, Mohammad Kazem, (1997), Modern History, in: Collection of Assar's Works, Tehran, Amirkabir.]in persian[.
Allamah Hali, (1981), Rijal Allamah Hali, Qom, Al-Sharif al-Razi publication.]in Arabic[.
Fazel Moqdad, (2001), Al-Wa'am al-Ilhiyyah fi al-Mabahari al-Kalamiya, Qom, Islamic Propaganda Office.]in persian[.
Faiz Kashani, (1997), Alam Al-Yekin, Qom, Bidar.]in Arabic[.
Faiz Kashani, (1992), Nawader Al-Akhbar, Tehran, Institute of Cultural Studies and Research.]in persian[.
Fayz Kashani, (1985), Al-Wafi, Isfahan, Amir al-Momenin Library.]in Arabic.[
Qomi Mashhadi, Mohammad bin Mohammad Reza, (1989), Tafsir Kanz al-Duqa'q, Tehran, Printing and Publishing Organization of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.]in Persian.[
Qadi Saeed Qomi, (1994), Sharh Tawhid Saduq, Tehran, Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.]in Arabic[.
Kulani, Al-Kafi, (1986), Tehran, Dar al-Kutub al-Islamiyya.
Mazandarani, Salih bin Ahmad, (1963), Sharh Usul al-Kafi, Tehran, Al-Muktab al-Islamiyya.]in persian[.
Majlisi, Mohammad Baqir, (1983), Bihar al-Anwar, Beirut, Al-Wafah Foundation.]in Arabic.[
Mullabashi, Mohammad Baqir bin Mohammad, (2012), Lu'ma' al-Anwar al-Arshiyya, Isfahan, Computer Research Center of the Isfahan Seminary.
Mulla Sadra, (1987), Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim, Qom, Bidar.]in persian[.
Mulla Sadra, (2004), Explanation of the Principles of Al-Kafi, Tehran, Institute of Cultural Studies and Research.]in Persian.[
Mirdamad, Mohammad Baqir, (2024), Commentary on the Book of Al-Kafi, Qom, Al-Khayyam Press.]in Arabic[.
Mirzaei, Pouyan, (2020), Approaches to solving the problem of the hadiths indicating that the world was placed in an egg, Hadith Sciences Quarterly, Year 25, No. 2.]in persian[.
Nayini Ardestan, Mohammad Ali ibn Husayn, (2002), Riyadh of the Hadith scholars in the translation of the narrators and the scholars of the early and the late, Qomi, Maktaba Ayatollah Al-Mar'as.]in persian[.
Namazi Shahroudi, (1993), Mustadrakat in the science of the scholars of Hadith, Tehran.]in Arabic[.