lecture 6 - the attributes and essence of god

8/10/2019 Lecture 6 - The Attributes and Essence of God

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ISLAMIC SCIENCES AND RESEARCH ACADEMY OF AUSTRALIA

Usul al-Din: Islamic Theology

Lecture 6

The Attributes and Essence of God



ISLAMIC SCIENCES AND RESEARCH ACADEMY OF AUSTRALIA2

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Introduction

1

• Sunni theologians extrapolated from the Qur’an andSunna that the Oneness of God meant God had certainessential qualities and attributes.

2

• Certain aspects were described as being part of God’sessence (dhat ), and others as attributes (sifat ). Variousearly Muslim sects differed regarding how they understoodand handled treatment of this issue.

3• If God created the universe how do his names reflect on

the universe has been an important question Muslimtheologians and mystics have sought to address.

3




Learning Outcomes1. Understand the key terminology used to

describe God’s essence and attributes.

2. Be able to compare the Sunni understandingof this topic with that of the Mu‘tazila.

3. Understand Muslim theologians’ view on

God’s names (asma) and the universe.




Oneness of God




Fiqh al-Akbar

• Read the passage on pages 71-72 of the Fiqh

al-Akbar textbook.


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Oneness of Allah

• “Allah Most High is One, not in terms of

number, but in that he has no partner”

This means that Allah has no partner, no equal and

no peer in his essence (dhat) and attributes (sifat).

• “He neither begets nor is he begotten”

This negates the proposition in other religions about“God having a son”

It also negates the philosophical idea thatintelligence (‘aql) originates from the NecessarilyExistent One (Wajib al-Wujud).



Oneness of Allah

• Qari points to the verse 21:22 and argues thatpartnership for God is impossible.

“But the fact is that had there been in the heavens and

the earth any deities other than God, both (of thoserealms) would certainly have fallen into ruin. All-Glorified

God is, the Lord of the Supreme Throne, in that He is

absolutely above all that they attribute to Him.”

• Having two gods would cause mutual hindrance.



Oneness of Allah

• For example, one ‘god’ may will a person tomove while the other may want him to remainmotionless.

• Either both will occur (moving and remainingmotionless at the same time) which is impossible.

• Or one possibility will occur. In this case the other‘god’ would be rendered powerless to carry out

his will.

• Powerlessness is not an attribute of being a ‘god’.

• Due to this possibility plurality of God is impossible.



Two types of argument

• Scholars debated whether the verse 21:22 has apersuasive argument or definitive argument.

• Persuasive argument (hujja iqna’iyya ): Counter

examples are possible but it has persuasive power.• Definitive argument (hujja qat’iyya): No counter

example is possible, hence it is a valid and soundargument.

• Taftazani is of the opinion that it is persuasive while al-Ghazali, Ibn Humam and Baydawi think it is definitiveargument.


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Essence and Attributes of God



Essence and attribute

• “He is not like unto anything from amongst Hiscreatures.”

• His existence (wujud) is His essence (dhat), but His

attributes (sifat) are neither His essence itself (‘ayndhatihi) or other than his essence (ghayr dhatihi).

Essence: The inward nature, the real invariable nature of

a thing.

Attribute: A quality or characteristic of the person, thing,group, etc.




• Mu’tazila and philosophers have negated theattributes or God.

• They argued that Allah is powerful and all-

Knowing through His essence (dhat) not throughan attribute of power and attribute of knowledge.God is powerful without possessing power.

Taftazani said this is like saying ‘a thing is black but

there is no blackness in it’.

• Their main concern is that they thought speakingof ‘eternal attributes’ would violate tawhid.




• But, it has been established through the

Qur’an and Sunna that Allah has many

attributes.

• If His attributes is said to be the same as his

essence, it results in his essence being devoid

of attributes.

• The meaning of Allah’s ‘essence’ (dhat) issomething different than his ‘attributes’ (sifat).




• On the other hand, saying attributes are totallyother than His essence is also problematic.

• This means that they either exist separately or they

are accidents (‘aradh) thus possible in theirnature.

• But Allah’s attributes are eternal. Allah does notlose his attributes (as people may lose their ability

or sight or power).

• If they are completely separate and eternal thiswould mean that multiple eternal things existwhich is not in line with tawhid.




• When a ‘knowledgeable person’ enters a roomwe do not say ‘knowledge entered the room’.

• Nor do we say ‘knowledge and the person

entered the room’.• We say ‘professor Ahmad’ entered the room.

The title (or name) ‘professor’ points to the attributeof ‘knowledge’.

Ahmad refers to the person (dhat).

• Hence, in Sunni theology, God’s attributes (sifat)are neither His essence itself (‘ayn dhatihi) or other

than his essence (ghayr dhatihi)


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Essential and active attributes



Eternity of attributes

• “He was, is, and will forever be possessor of Hisnames and of His essential and active attributes”

• The main point is that none of the attributes of

Allah are originated in time nor will they cease tobelong to Allah at any time.

• Karramiyya sect claimed that attributes areoriginated.

For them, Allah is said to be the Creator at themoment of creating.

• This is rejected by Ahl al Sunna.



Active and essential attributes

• Essential attributes ( sifat al-dhatiyya): Attributeswhose opposites cannot be attributed to Allah.

Examples are life, knowledge, greatness

• Active attributes ( sifat al-fi’liyya): Attributes whoseopposite can be attributed to Allah

Giver of Life (opposite being Giver of Death)



Essential attributes

• “As for His essential (attributes), they are life(hayat), power (qudra), knowledge (ilm), speech(kalam), hearing (sam’), seeing (basar) and

willing (irada ).” The attribute of speech will be explained in week-7

• “Allah. There is no god but He,-the Living, the Self-subsisting, ( مو ا يح ا ,)” (Qur’anه 2:255)

• “And He has Power over all things ( شي

ك

ى

,)” (Qur’anدر 57:2)




Essential attributes

• “Is it conceivable that One Who creates shouldnot know? He is the All-Subtle, the All-Aware ( خبر طف ا ا ق م ن خ )” (Qur’an, 67:14)

• “… and He is the One that hears and sees (allthings)( رص ا عسا )” (Qur’an, 42:11)

Verse 42:11 is an important verse in relation to theattributed of God.




Will and desire

• The will (irada) and desire (mashi’a ) of Allah areone and the same.

• Demands of Allah are of two types:

• One type is the command (amr) – it does notforce and leave the choice of acting by it to theperson.

“Do as you will ( م وا ش ا), verily He sees all thatyou do” (Qur’an, 41:40)

• The other is will (irada) and desire (mashi’a )where there is no choice and occurs immediately.




Will and desire

• Accordingly, there are two types of will (irada)mentioned in the Qur’an

• The creative decreeing will (irada qadariyya

kawniyya shar’iyya) this encompasses all createdthings and the universe.

“Moreover He comprehended in His design the sky,and it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to the

earth: "Come ye together, willingly or unwillingly."They said: "We do come (together), in willingobedience." (Qur’an, 41:11)

• Laws of nature are among this type.




Will and desire

• The religious legislative will (irada diniyya amriyya shar’iyya ) linked to those commands that acquireHis approval and love.

“God wills ease for you, and He does not willhardship for you” (Qur’an, 2:185)

• This type of will is expressed through revelation.

• Importantly, success in both worlds depend on

following both set of laws (S. Nursi).




Active attributes

• “And as for His active (attributes), they arecreating (takhloq), sustaining, bringing into being,originating, making and others”.

• Abu Hanifa listed a few as it was sufficient to getan idea about active attributes.

• All these actions come under the collectiveattribute of takwin.




Active attributes

• Early Aqaid works list the attributes withoutexplaining them in detail.

• Later Aqaid works classify them under three

primary categories. Personal attribute (sifat nafsiyya): Being (wujud)

• Imam Ash’ari is of the opinion that being (wujud) is sameas essence (dhat) while Razi and others say wujud is anadded description of dhat.

Negating (or transcendent) attributes ( sifat salbiyya)

Affirmative attributes (sifat thubutiyya)




Nuance on Active attributes

• While both Ash’ari and Maturidi agree on theessential attributes being eternal, there isdifference in terms of active attributes.

• Maturidis consider them to be eternal whileAsh’aris consider them created.

Hence Ash’aris do not list takwin as an attribute.

• Ash’ari concern is that if the takwin is consideredeternal then this can lead to accepting what iscreated (mukawwin) eternal as well.




Active attributes

• There are three components to each attribute:

Attribute (sifa) itself

Connection (ta’alluq ) of the attribute to the effect

Effect or result (athar) of the attribute in the world

• Both schools consider attribute (sifa) to be eternal,but connection and effect originated at the timeof creation.




Active attributes

• Maturidis regard all attributes relating to takwin asactual attributes.

• Ash’aris see takwin as associations (ta’alluqat ) of

attributes of qudra (power) and manifestation ofthe word kun (be) which they consider to benecessary for every action (whether creating,sustaining etc) to exist.

• Most scholars consider this difference as semantic.

• However, it means that in the Maturidi list ofaffirmative attributes takwin is listed.




Difference between name and

attribute




Name and attribute

• Name is what indicates an essence:

Either by itself like the name ‘Allah’ which is a noun.

• ‘Allah’ is the title of Divine Essence and encompasses all

other names. Indicates the essence characterised by an

attribute like ‘Powerful’ (qadir) and All-Knowing(‘alim).

• Attribute is what indicates a quality (ma’na )associated with the essence.

Like power (qudra) and knowledge (ilm)




Name and attribute

• Name is what an entity is called or identified

with.

• Attribute is the quality or characteristic it

possesses.

• Qur’an uses both words

“To God belong the All-Beautiful Names so call and

pray to Him by them ( ب

و

د

ى حس ا

سا

ه

).”(Qur’an, 7:180)

“And to God applies the most sublime attribute,( ىه ا ا )” (Qur’an, 16:60)




Name and attribute

• “The words that describe God in the form of

adjectives such as All-Living, All-Hearing, All-

Knowing are names. Concepts uses in relative

to the Divine essence have been mentionedas God’s Attributes” (Gulen, 2010, p 115)

• Knowledge of God can only be acquired

through knowing the totality of His names. (p.159)




All-Beautiful Names of God

• Some scholars of Aqaid and mysticism said “Thetruths of things consists in Divine Names” (p. 159)

• Scholars of Ahl al-Sunna: “God is completely

different to whatever comes to your mindconcerning Him” (p. 159)

• Ahmad Sirhindi: “God is beyond and furtherbeyond whatever comes to your mind

concerning Him” (p. 159)

• Al-Ghazali: “the worldly reason and intellectclouds our atmosphere of spirit and heart (p. 159)





• “If God-Almighty did not introduce Himself to usthrough His Beautiful Names, we would nevercomprehend the truth of these Names” (p. 160)

• Knowledge of the names enables a person toestablish proper relationship with God (p. 161)

• There is a famous list of 99 names of God given ina hadith reported by Abu Hurayra.

• Some scholars maintained that God’s Names areonly those mentioned in the Qur’an and by HisMessenger.





• However, many acts are mentioned in the Qur’anthat lead to different names.

E.g. Sani’ (The Maker)

• 99 names listed may be for special prayer andpromise of paradise if prayed with those names.

• There are as much as 550 names mentioned inthe Qur’an in the form of nouns, adjectives and

verbal nouns (Gulen, p. 166)





• Importantly, it should be said God is the Creatorof everything but do not describe God withinappropriate names.

• In attributing acts to God, His sacredness andpurity must be maintained.

For example, acts like mocking, making schemes.

• “We must always be appreciative of Divine Acts,

hold Divine Names as being absolutely free fromany defect and exalt the All-Sacred DivineBeing.” (Gulen, p. 165)





• God’s Names are usually divided into three broadcategories.

1. Names that designate His very existence

The Holy (Quddus), The Peace (Salam)

2. Names that indicate an action

Creator (Khaliq), Sustainer (Razzaq)

3. Names that indicate an essential attribute All-Knowing (‘ Alim), All Powerful (Qadir )




Nursi’s explanation

Visible things and events in the universe

Divine Acts (Fi’il )

Divine Names ( Asma)

Divine Attributes (Sifat)

Divine Qualities (Shu’unat )

Divine Essence (Dhat)




References

1. Ibn Yusuf, A. (2007). Imam Abu Hanfia's Al Fiqh al-AkbarExplained. California: White Thread Press.

2. Imam, -H. -J. A.-M. A. A., Walker, P. E., & Center for MuslimContribution to Civilization. (2000). A guide to the conclusiveproofs for the principles of belief =: Kita b al-irsha d ila qawa t i' al-

adilla i us u l al-i'tiqa d. Reading: Garnet Publishing3. Ma turi di , M. M., & Topalog lu, B. (2003). Kita bu 't-Tevhi d Tercu mesi.

Ankara: I SAM (Tu rkiye Diyanet Vakfı I sla m Aras tırmaları Merkezi.

4. Gulen, F. (2010). Emerald Hills of the Heart (A. Unal, Trans.). NewJersey: Tughra Books, Vol 4.



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