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עמוד:12
Ibn al - ‘Arabī – On Five Influential Stations 12 Arberry translates the last words of this phrase as “making the religion His sincerely, men of pure faith…” 2 I prefer the following translation which retains the original meaning of the verb akhlaṣa : “They were ordered to worship God, purifying the religion for Him, as [ do ] monotheists ” 3 It seems that all the verses that contain the notion of akhlaṣa al - dīn , whether it occurs in a verbal form, or in an infinitive form, or in a participle form have the same meaning, that is, the worshiping of God alone, meaning the idea of tawḥīd , which negates the worship of another entity with God’s worship 4 Three interpreters of the Qur’ān, al - Ṭabarī ( d . 923 ) , 5 Fakhr al - Dīn al - Rāzī ( d . 1210 ) , 6 and Ibn Kathīr ( d . 1373 ) 7 share this understanding of Qur’ān I do not say that the two translations mentioned above . 5 : 98 are not accurate ; however, both refer to the outcome of the unification of God 8 This consequence of the relevant verses will be discussed below The term niyya does not occur in the Qur’ān, but only in the Tradition According to the famous tradition, “one’s deeds are gauged only through intentions, and everyone deserves what he intends” ( innamā al - a‘māl bi’l - niyyāt wa - li kulli imri’n mā nawā ) 9 It seems that al - Ghazālī solves the difficulty of the p . 653 . 2 Cf LGardet, “ Ikhlāṣ,”EI2 3 See, for example, Qur’ān 4 : 146, 39 : 2, 11, 14 . 4 Part 30, p . 170 . 5 Part 32, p . 44 . 6 Vol . vii, p . 375 . 7 Most researchers translate this term as sincerity . See, for example, Picken, 8 Spiritual Purification, ikhlāṣ , index Picken does not use the first meaning of ikhlāṣ as purification Wensinck, “Niyya”, EI2 This tradition appears at the beginning of al - 9 Bukhārī’s Ṣaḥīḥ . Al - Ghazālī, Iḥyā’, IV, p . 362 .
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