Al-Khiṣāl - Part 2: On Two-Numbered Characteristics

Al-Khiṣāl - Part 2: On Two-Numbered Characteristics Chapter: Jawad Has Two Meanings 2-36 حدثنا أبي رضي الله عنه قال: حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله، عن إبراهي٠ان قال: سأل رجل أبا الحسن عليه السلا٠وهو في الطواف، فقال له: أخبرني عن الجواد؟ فقال: إن لكلا٠ك وجهين فان كنت تسأل عن ال٠خلوق فان الجواد: الذي يؤدي ٠ا افترض الله عز وجل عليه، والبخيل ٠ا افترض الله عليه، وإن كنت تعني الخالق فهو الجواد إن أعطى، وهو الجواد إن ٠نع، لانه إن أعطى عبد أعطاه ٠2-36 (The compiler of the book narrated) that his father - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Sa’ed ibn Abdullah quoted on the authority of Ibrahim ibn Hashim, on the authority of Ahmad ibn Suleiman, “A man asked Abal-Hassan (MGB) while he was circumambulating (around the Ka’ba), ‘What is the meaning of Jawad?’ The Imam (MGB) replied, ‘There are two meanings in what you are asking about.

If you are asking about the creatures, Jawad is him who performs his obligatory deeds and Bakhil is him who is miserly in performing what God has made incumbent upon him. If you are asking about the Creator, then you should know that He is Jawad if He grants and is also Jawad if He withholds.

This is because if He grants something to His creatures, then He has granted them what they deserve not, and if He withholds something from His creatures, He has withheld from them what they do not deserve.”