الْقَهَّارُ

القهّارُ «فعّال» للمبالغة من القاهر، وكلاهما في القرآن. وأصلُ القهر في وضع العربية الرياضةُ والتذليل: يقال قهر فلانٌ الناقةَ إذا راضها وذلّلها حتى انقادت؛ ثمّ صار القهرُ الغلبةَ والاستيلاء. والقهّارُ هو الذي يغلب ولا يُغلب بحال، ويحصل مرادُه من خلقه شاءوا أو أبَوا، رضوا أو كرهوا. وقد يجري القاهرُ على العبد وصفًا مقيّدًا، فإن قهر كافرًا أو ظالمًا كان مدحًا، وإن قهر يتيمًا أو ضعيفًا كان ذمًّا؛ أمّا القهّارُ مطلقًا فلا يليق إلا بالله.

Al-Qahhār is the intensive form of al-Qāhir, and both are in the Qurʾān. The root of qahr in Arabic is breaking in and taming: qahara al-nāqah is said when someone trains a she-camel and gentles her until she follows the lead; from there qahr came to mean overpowering and mastery. Al-Qahhār is the One who prevails and is never prevailed over in any way, whose will is done among His creatures whether they will it or refuse it, whether they are pleased or displeased. Qāhir may be said of a servant in a limited sense — praise if he overpowers an aggressor or a tyrant, blame if he overpowers an orphan or the weak; but al-Qahhār without limit befits no one but Allah.

قال الغزالي: القهّارُ هو الذي يقصم ظهورَ الجبابرة من أعدائه فيقهرهم بالإماتة والإذلال، بل الذي لا موجودَ إلا وهو مسخَّرٌ تحت قهره وقدرته، عاجزٌ في قبضته. وقال الزجّاج: قهر المعاندين بما أقام من الآيات والدلالات على وحدانيته، وقهر جبابرةَ خلقه بعزّ سلطانه، وقهر الخلقَ كلَّهم بالموت. فالموتُ أظهرُ آيات هذا الاسم: لم ينجُ منه ملكٌ مقرّب، ولا نبيٌّ مرسل، وطاحت عنده صولةُ المخلوقين وقواهم أجمعين؛ وفي الآية المذكورة هنا مشهدُه الأكبر يوم يبرز الخلق، إذ يُسأل: لمن الملك اليوم؟ فلا جواب إلا: لله الواحد القهّار. ولذلك يأتي هذا الاسم في القرآن مقرونًا بـ«الواحد»، لأنّ القهر التامّ لا يكون إلا للمتفرّد الذي لا شريك له.

Al-Ghazālī says: al-Qahhār is the One who breaks the backs of the tyrants among His enemies, overpowering them with death and humiliation — more than that, the One apart from whom nothing exists that is not subdued under His overpowering and His power, helpless in His grasp. Az-Zajjāj says: He overpowered the obstinate with the signs and proofs He set up for His Oneness, the tyrants of His creation with the might of His dominion, and all creatures with death. Death is the plainest sign of this Name: no angel brought near and no prophet sent escapes it, and at it the pride and strength of every creature fall away. The verse given here shows its greatest scene, on the Day creation comes forth, when it is asked: “To whom belongs sovereignty this Day?” — and the only answer is: “To Allah, the One, the Prevailing.” That is why the Qurʾān pairs this Name with al-Wāḥid, the One: complete prevailing belongs only to the One who is alone, without partner.

قال الغزالي: القهّارُ من العباد من قهر أعداءه، وأعدى عدوّ الإنسان نفسُه التي بين جنبيه، فهي أعدى له من الشيطان الذي حُذّر عداوته؛ ومهما قهر شهواتِ نفسه فقد قهر الشيطان، إذ الشيطان يستهويه إلى الهلاك بواسطة شهواته، ومهما قهر شهوات النفس فقد قهر الناس كافّة، فلم يقدر عليه أحد، إذ غايةُ أعدائه السعيُ في إهلاك بدنه، وذلك إحياءٌ لروحه؛ فإنّ من مات عن شهواته في حياته عاش في مماته. فليس القويُّ من يقهر الناس، بل من يقهر نفسه عند الغضب؛ ومن ترك تدبيرَه لتدبير القهّار واستسلم له في كلّ جليلٍ وحقير، سقطت عنه أثقالُ التدبير.

Al-Ghazālī says: the qahhār among servants is the one who overpowers his enemies — and a man’s worst enemy is the self between his two sides, a worse enemy to him than the devil he has been warned against. Whenever he overpowers the desires of his self he has overpowered the devil, for the devil lures him to ruin only through his desires; and whoever overpowers the desires of his self has overpowered all people, so that no one has any power over him — for the most his enemies can do is try to destroy his body, and that is life for his spirit: whoever dies to his desires in his life lives on in his death. So the strong man is not the one who overpowers people, but the one who masters himself when angry; and whoever leaves his own arranging for al-Qahhār’s arranging, surrendering to Him in things great and small, has the weight of arranging lifted from him.

قال القشيري: قهر اللهُ نفوسَ العابدين بخوف عقوبته، وقلوبَ العارفين بسطوة قربته، وأرواحَ المحبّين بكشف حقيقته؛ فالعابدُ بلا نفس لاستيلاء سلطان أفعاله عليه، والعارفُ بلا قلب لاستيلاء سلطان إقباله عليه، والمحبُّ بلا روح لاستيلاء كشف جماله وجلاله عليه. فللقهر في طريق القوم وجهٌ من الرحمة: أن يقهرك الحقُّ عن نفسك فلا يبقى لك مرادٌ مع مراده، وتلك حرّيةٌ لا يعرفها إلا من ذاقها. ومن عرف قهرَه لعباده نسي مرادَ نفسه بمراده، فكان له وبه، لا لأحدٍ سواه، ولا بشيءٍ دونه.

Al-Qushayrī says: Allah overpowered the selves of the worshippers with fear of His punishment, the hearts of the knowers with the force of His nearness, and the spirits of the lovers with the unveiling of His reality. So the worshipper is without a self, for the dominion of His acts has taken him over; the knower is without a heart, for the dominion of His turning towards him has taken him over; and the lover is without a spirit, for the unveiling of His beauty and majesty has taken him over. On the Sufi path this overpowering has a face of mercy: that the Real overpowers you away from yourself, until you have no wish left beside His wish — a freedom known only to those who have tasted it. Whoever knows how He overpowers His servants forgets his own wish in His, and so belongs to Him and lives by Him — for no one else, and by nothing less.