Praise be to Allah, and may Allah raise the rank of Prophet
Muhammad and his Al and Companions, and protect his nation
from that which he fears for it. Thereafter:
Allah, the Exalted, said : {وَمَن
لَّمْ يُؤْمِن بِاللهِ وَرَسُولِهِ فَإِنَّا أَعْتَدْنَا
لِلْكَافِرِينَ سَعِيرًا}
which means: For those blasphemers who do not believe in
Allah and His Messenger, We have prepared Hellfire .
It is obligatory to believe in Allah and to
know what is permissible to attribute to Him, what is
necessary to be of His attributes, and what is impossible to
be of His attributes. Also, it is obligatory to believe in
the Messenger and to know what is befitting for him, what is
permissible for him and the other prophets, what is
necessary to be of their attributes, and what is impossible
to be among their attributes. It is obligatory to declare
these beliefs by the tongue by uttering The Testification of
Faith (Two Shahadahs):
أشهدُ
أنْ لا إلهَ إلاَّ اللهُ وأشهدُ أنَّ محمّداً رسولُ الله
which means:I know, believe and profess no
one is God except Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of
Allah.
The one who does not believe in Allah and His Messenger is a
blasphemer and shall enter Hell eternally.
Before proceeding with this treatise let it
be known that the judgments of the mind are three kinds:
· The intellectual necessity:
This refers to what the mind does not conceive its
non-existence, i.e., non-existence does not apply to its
self. Allah is the One Whose Existence is necessary, because
the mind does not accept His non-existence, i.e.,
non-existence does not apply to the Self of Allah.
·
The intellectual impossibility:
This refers to what the mind does not conceive its
existence, i.e., that to which existence does not apply. The
existence of a partner with Allah is an intellectual
impossibility, because existence does not apply to it, i.e.,
the mind does not conceive its existence.
·
The intellectual possibility:
This refers to what the mind conceives its existence at one
time and its non-existence at another time. This universe
and its contents--among what we can see and what we cannot
see--is an intellectual possibility. It is so because the
mind conceives its existence after a state of non-existence.
This is the state of the entire universe. For example, Allah
made the human being exist after having been non-existent,
and then this human being shall be annihilated (Annihilation
of humans is by complete death, which is defined as the soul
completely departing the body. The souls do not annihilate
and some bodies do not decay in the soil.) This is why the
human being's existence is among the intellectual
possibilities.
Allah, ta^ala, said : {وَللهِ
الْمَثَلُ الأَعْلَىَ}
which means: Allah has attributes that do not resemble the
attributes of others .
It is obligatory to believe the attributes of Allah are
confirmed to Him. He who negates them is called an atheist.
Hence, the one who does not believe in the Existence of
Allah, i.e., the one who negates Allah's attribute of
Existence is called an atheist.
The attributes of Allah that are obligatory
to believe in are confirmed to Him. They are not the Self of
Allah nor other than the Self of Allah. Rather, we say they
are attributes with which Allah is attributed and they are
religiously and intellectually obligatory for Him. Imam an-Nasafiyy
said: "His attributes are not Him nor other than Him."
The attributes of Allah that every pubescent
and sane Muslim is obliged to know are called the attributes
of the Self of Allah and Allah is not attributed with their
opposites. They are thirteen attributes; the scholars
established by consensus he who is ignorant of them is a
committer of an enormous sin (fasiq).
These thirteen (13) attributes are: Existence
(al-Wujud), Oneness (al-Wahdaniyyah), Eternity (al-Qidam),
Everlastingness (al-Baqa'), Non-neediness of others (al-Qiyamu
bin-Nafs), Non-resemblance to the creatures (al-mukhalafatu
lil-hawadith), Power (al-Qudrah), Will (al-Iradah),
Knowledge (al-^Ilm), Life (al-Hayah), Hearing (as-Sam^),
Sight (al-Basar),and Speech (al-Kalam).
1- Existence (al-Wujud): It is obligatory to believe in the
Existence of Allah. Allah said: {أَفِي
اللهِ شَكٌّ}
which means: [There is no doubt in the Existence of Allah.]
Hence, it is obligatory to believe in the Existence of
Allah.
It is an eternal and everlasting attribute. Allah exists
without a beginning, without an ending, and without a place.
2- Oneness (al-Wahdaniyyah): It is
obligatory to believe Allah is One without a partner. Allah
said:
{فَاعْلَمْ
أَنَّهُ لا إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللهُ وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لِذَنبِكَ}
which means: [Know that no one is God except
Allah.] Allah is One in His Self, Attributes, and
Doings--hence Allah has no equal. So we say, for example:
"Allah is the Creator and no one is a creator except Allah".
Allah is One but not as in numbers, because numbers are
created. Rather, He is One in that there is no partner with
Him.
3- Eternity (al-Qidam): It is obligatory to
believe Allah is Eternal, i.e., there is no beginning to His
Existence. His attributes are also eternal. Nothing is
eternal except Allah and His attributes.
4- Everlastingness (al-Baqa'): It is
obligatory to believe Allah is everlasting i.e., His
Existence does not end. His Existence is everlasting and His
attributes are everlasting. There is nothing everlasting in
itself except Allah, because annihilation does not apply to
His Self. However, Paradise and Hell are everlasting because
Allah willed their everlastingness. Hence, they are
everlasting--not in their selves--but because of other than
their selves. This is why they are among the intellectual
possibilities, and they are part of this universe. Allah
said: {هُوَ الأَوَّلُ وَالآخِرُ
} which means: [Allah is the Eternal, without a beginning,
and the Everlasting, without an ending.]
5- Non-neediness of others (al-Qiyamu bin-Nafs):
Allah said: {اللهُ الصَّمَدُ}
which means: [Allah is the Master Who is resorted to in
one's needs.] Allah does not need anything. He does not need
one to give Him existence because He exists without a
beginning. Also, He does not need one to specify Him with
Knowledge, instead of ignorance, or other than that among
His Attributes, because His attributes exist without a
beginning.
6- Non-Resemblance to the Creation (al-Mukhalafatu
lil-hawadith): Allah does not resemble any of His
creatures--neither in His Self nor in His Attributes nor in
His Doings. Allah said: {لَيْسَ
كَمِثْلِهِ شَىْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ البَصِيرُ}
which means: [Absolutely there is nothing like Him.] Imam
Abu Hanifah said: "The Creator does not resemble His
creatures."
7- Power (al-Qudrah): It is obligatory to
believe Allah is attributed with Power, which is defined as
an eternal and everlasting attribute of Allah related to
giving existence to and annihilating what is intellectually
possible. Allah said:{إِنَّ
اللهَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ} which means: [Allah
has the Power over everything.] That is, Allah's Power
relates to all things that are intellectually possible.
Hence, the Power of Allah is not related to the
intellectually necessary neither in creating nor
annihilating, because annihilation does not apply to it in
the first place. The power of Allah is not related to the
intellectually impossible neither in creating nor
annihilating because existence in the first place does not
apply to that which is intellectually impossible. The fact
that the power of Allah is not related to the intellectually
necessary and the intellectually impossible is not
powerlessness, but rather indicates the perfection of Allah.
Also, this fact conforms to the judgment of the mind: the
intellectually impossible does not turn into an intellectual
possibility, and the intellectually necessary does not turn
into an intellectual possibility. The Power of Allah is
related to the normal impossibilities. For example, although
the existence of a sea of mercury is an intellectual
possibility, it does not occur, and the Power of Allah is
related to it.
8- Will (al-‘Iradah): It is obligatory to
believe Allah is attributed with Will. It is defined as an
eternal and everlasting attribute by which Allah specifies
the creatures who are intellectual possibilities with some
attributes among what is possible for them. An example is
specifying a green colored board with green instead of other
possible colors. There is no difference in that regard
between good and evil, blasphemy and belief, winning and
losing, and other opposites among what is intellectually
possible.
9- Knowledge (al-^Ilm): It is obligatory to
believe Allah is attributed with Knowledge. This is an
eternal and everlasting attribute of His Self. Allah knows
eternally about His Self, attributes, and what He creates.
Nothing is absent from His Knowledge.
10- Life (al-Hayah): It is obligatory to
believe Allah is attributed with Life. Allah said: {اللهُ
لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ}
which means: [There is no God but Allah, and He is
attributed with Life, and His existence does not end.] Life
is an eternal and everlasting attribute of Allah. The Life
of Allah is not like our life, because our life needs a
combination of body and soul; however, the Life of Allah is
His attribute.
11- Hearing (as-Sam^): It is obligatory to
believe Allah is attributed with Hearing. This is an eternal
and everlasting attribute of Allah with which Allah hears
all things that are hearable. There is no difference between
what is near to us and what is far from us because Allah is
not in a place. He hears without an ear, without means, and
without instruments. His hearing is not subject to weakening
nor change because weakness and change are non-befitting to
Allah. Allah said: {وَهُوَ
السَّمِيعُ البَصِير} which means: [He is the
One attributed with Hearing and Sight.]
12- Sight (al-Basar): It is obligatory to
believe Allah is attributed with Sight. This is an eternal
and everlasting attribute of Allah with which He sees all
things that are seeable, without an instrument and without
means. He sees the things that are far away from us and
those that are near to us without any difference because
Allah is not in a place. His attribute of Sight does not
change or develop, because the One whose Self is eternal
does not develop or change. Allah's attributes are eternal
and do not develop or change.
13- Speech (al-Kalam) : It is obligatory to
believe Allah is attributed with Speech (Kalam). This is an
eternal and everlasting attribute with which Allah orders,
forbids, and informs. It is not a letter nor a sound nor a
language. The Qur'an and the other revealed Books are
expressions of the eternal Kalam of the Self of Allah. When
we write the word "Allah" it is an expression of the Self of
Allah. Likewise, the words and sentences of the revealed
Books are expressions of the Kalam of Allah. The Qur'an is
called the Kalam of Allah because it is not authored by
Prophet Muhammad or Angel Jibril. The Qur'an is also used to
mean the eternal Kalam of the Self of Allah. Allah said: {وَكَلَّمَ
اللهُ مُوسَى تَكْلِيمًا} which means: [Allah spoke to
Musa with His eternal Kalam] i.e., Allah created in Prophet
Musa the ability to hear the Kalam of the Self of Allah,
which is not a letter nor a sound.
(The Accountable is person who is Pubescent,
Sane and Heard the call of Islam)
and Allah knows best.