الْحَفِيظُ

الحفيظُ فعيلٌ بمعنى فاعل، كالقدير والعليم، والله حافظٌ وحفيظ، كما قال الزجّاج؛ وفي بناء فعيلٍ مبالغة، فهو الحافظُ جدًّا، كما قال الغزالي. وحفظُ الشيء صونُه ورعايتُه ومنعُه من الضياع والتلف. وقال الخطّابي: هو الذي يحفظ السماواتِ والأرضَ وما فيهما لتبقى مدّةَ بقائها فلا تزول ولا تدثر، ويحفظ عبدَه من المهالك والمعاطب، ويقيه مصارعَ السوء، ويحفظ على الخلق أعمالَهم، ويُحصي عليهم أقوالَهم، ويحفظ أولياءه فيعصمهم عن مواقعة الذنوب، ويحرسهم من مكايدة الشيطان ليسلموا من شرّه وفتنته.

Ḥafīẓ is faʿīl in the sense of fāʿil, like qadīr and ʿalīm; Allah is both Ḥāfiẓ and Ḥafīẓ, az-Zajjāj says. The pattern carries intensity, so He is the One who keeps exceedingly, al-Ghazālī says. To keep a thing is to guard it, tend it and hold it back from being lost or spoiled. Al-Khaṭṭābī says: He is the One who keeps the heavens and the earth and what is in them, so that they last their term and do not vanish or wear away; who keeps His servant from ruin and danger and shields him from evil ends; who keeps creatures’ deeds against them and counts their words; and who keeps His friends, protecting them from falling into sin and guarding them from Satan’s snares, so that they come through safe from his evil and his trials.

قال الغزالي: لن يُفهم هذا الاسم إلا بعد فهم معنى الحفظ، وهو على وجهين: أحدهما إدامةُ وجود الموجودات وإبقاؤها، ويضادّه الإعدام؛ والله تعالى الحافظُ للسماوات والأرض والملائكة، وما يطول أمدُ بقائه وما لا يطول من الحيوان والنبات. والثاني، وهو أظهرُ المعنيين، صيانةُ المتعاديات والمتضادّات بعضِها عن بعض: فقد جمع اللهُ في بدن الإنسان والحيوان والنبات أصولًا متنازعة، ولولا حفظُه إيّاها لتنافرت، وبطل امتزاجُها، واضمحلّ تركيبُها. ثم حفظ الإنسانَ من الهلاك الخارج، فخلق له الحواسَّ جواسيسَ منذرةً بقرب العدوّ، واليدَ الباطشة، ثم آلةَ الهرب، الرِّجلَ للماشي والجناحَ للطائر؛ حتى الحشيشُ يحفظ لُبابَه بالقشر الصلب، وما لا يحفظه القشرُ يحفظه بالشوك، فالشوكُ سلاحُ النبات كالقرون والمخالب للحيوان. وقال القشيري: ومن حفظه أنه حافظُ القرآن عن التبديل والتغيير، فلو أخطأ مخطئٌ في حركةٍ من حركات حروفه لأنكر عليه ألوفٌ من الصبيان فضلًا عن القرّاء؛ ومن حفظه حفظُه لقلوب أوليائه على خلوص المعرفة من الأهواء المختلفة، وخلقُه ملائكةً لحفظ بني آدم من البلاء والآفات.

Al-Ghazālī says: this Name will not be understood until the meaning of keeping is understood, and it is of two kinds. The first is keeping things in being and making them last, and its opposite is bringing to nothing: Allah, exalted is He, keeps the heavens, the earth and the angels, what lasts long and what does not, animals and plants. The second, the plainer of the two, is guarding things that are at enmity and opposed from one another: Allah has gathered in the bodies of man, beast and plant elements that pull against each other, and were it not for His keeping they would fly apart, their mixture would fail and their make-up dissolve. Then He kept man from the ruin that comes from outside: He made the senses scouts that warn of an enemy’s approach, and the hand that strikes, and then the means of flight — the foot for the walker and the wing for the bird. Even the grass keeps its heart with a hard husk, and what the husk cannot keep it keeps with thorns: the thorn is the plant’s weapon, as horns and claws are the animal’s. Al-Qushayrī says: of His keeping is that He keeps the Qurʾān from alteration and change — were someone to err in a single vowel of its letters, thousands of children would correct him, let alone the reciters; of His keeping is that He keeps the hearts of His friends in pure knowledge of Him, free of the scattered whims; and that He created angels to keep the children of Ādam from trial and harm.

قال الغزالي: الحفيظُ من العباد من يحفظ جوارحَه وقلبَه، ويحفظ دينَه عن سطوة الغضب، وخِلابة الشهوة، وخداع النفس، وغرور الشيطان، وقد اكتنفته هذه المهلكاتُ المفضيةُ إلى البوار. وقال سيّدُنا رسولُ الله ﷺ لابن عبّاس: «احفظ اللهَ يحفظك»، فمن حفظ حدودَ الله حفظه اللهُ في دينه ونفسه وأهله. وقال القشيري: قيل: من حفظ لله جوارحَه حفظ اللهُ عليه قلبَه، ومن حفظ لله حقَّه حفظ اللهُ عليه حظَّه. وذكر زرّوق أنّ التخلّق بهذا الاسم أن تحفظ ما أُمرتَ بحفظه من الجوارح والشرائع والأمانات.

Al-Ghazālī says: the keeper among servants is one who keeps his limbs and his heart, and keeps his religion from the onslaught of anger, the lure of desire, the self’s deceit and Satan’s delusion — for these ruinous things have surrounded him and lead to perdition. The Prophet ﷺ said to Ibn ʿAbbās: “Guard Allah, and He will guard you”: whoever keeps Allah’s bounds, Allah keeps him in his religion, his self and his family. Al-Qushayrī says: it was said, whoever keeps his limbs for Allah, Allah keeps his heart for him; and whoever keeps Allah’s right, Allah keeps his portion for him. Zarrūq notes that to take on the trait of this Name is to keep what you were bidden to keep: your limbs, the laws of religion, and what is entrusted to you.

قال القشيري: ومن أعجب ما ورد في هذا الباب قصّةُ أمّ موسى عليه السلام حين رجعت إلى الله بصدق التوكّل: ألهمها أن تُلقيه في اليمّ، فربط على قلبها، وحفظ لها ولدها، وردّه إليها. فالحفظُ الإلهيّ قد يمرّ في صورة الإلقاء في الماء؛ ومن رأى الصورةَ خاف، ومن رأى الحفيظَ سكن. وذكر زرّوق أنّ من عرف أنه مدبّرُ الخلائق وكالئُهم اكتفى بتدبيره وحفظه عن تدبيره لنفسه، فاستراح من تعب التدبير. وعلّمنا سيّدُنا رسولُ الله ﷺ أن نقول إذا أوينا إلى فراشنا: «إن أمسكتَ نفسي فارحمها، وإن أرسلتَها فاحفظها بما تحفظ به عبادك الصالحين»؛ فالنومُ أخو الموت، والعبدُ فيه أعجزُ ما يكون عن حفظ نفسه، فيسلّمها كلَّ ليلةٍ إلى الحفيظ، ويستيقظ فيجدها محفوظة.

Al-Qushayrī says: among the most wondrous things that came in this matter is the story of Mūsā’s mother, peace be upon him, when she turned back to Allah in true reliance: He inspired her to cast him into the river, steadied her heart, kept her child for her, and returned him to her. Divine keeping may pass through the form of a casting into the water: whoever sees the form is afraid; whoever sees the Keeper is at rest. Zarrūq notes that whoever knows that He orders all creatures and watches over them is content with His ordering and His keeping in place of ordering things for himself, and is at rest from the toil of planning. The Prophet ﷺ taught us to say when we lie down to sleep: “If You take my soul, have mercy on it; and if You send it back, keep it with that by which You keep Your righteous servants.” Sleep is the brother of death, and in it the servant is least able to keep himself; so every night he hands himself over to al-Ḥafīẓ, and wakes to find himself kept.