Draft:Essential Attributes of God
Essential Attributes of God (Arabic: الصفات الذاتي), as distinguished from action-based attributes, refer to the fundamental characteristics that constitute the very essence and nature of the Divine. Consequently, God cannot exist without them;[1] primary examples include power, knowledge, and life. Islamic theologians have traditionally classified divine attributes into essential and action-based categories based on two primary criteria:
The Classical Criterion: Under this framework, essential attributes are those that necessarily describe God and absolutely cannot be negated from Him. Consequently, power, knowledge, and life are considered essential divine attributes because God cannot be characterized by their opposites or contraries, which inherently denote existential deficiency or imperfection.[2] This classification model was initially articulated by al-Kulayni (d. 329/941)[3] and was later endorsed by Mir al-Sayyid al-Sharif al-Jurjani (d. 816/1413).[4]
The Common Criterion: According to this standard, essential attributes are those for which the mere conceptualization of the Divine Essence is sufficient to ascribe them to God. Each of these attributes is abstracted directly from the Divine Essence to represent a specific type of absolute perfection, such as life, knowledge, power, and will.[5] This conceptual framework is the most prevalent terminology found in classical texts of philosophy and theology.[6]
According to Imami philosophers and theologians, the divine attributes are entirely identical to God's essence;[7] they are not merely inseparable from Him, but are fundamentally one with the Divine Essence itself.[8] Consequently, while the attributes and the essence may appear distinct in human language and conceptualization, they are completely unified in their external reality or referent (misdaq). Like the Divine Essence, these attributes are infinite, absolute, and eternal.[9] Due to this absolute and infinite unity, a comprehensive human understanding of God's essence and attributes remains epistemologically impossible.[10]
Furthermore, essential attributes are subdivided into two categories: real (haqiqi) and relational (idafi). Real essential attributes, such as knowledge and power, are substantive perfections that intrinsically belong to the Divine Essence. In contrast, relational attributes are secondary concepts abstracted from the real attributes—such as the state of being all-knowing ( 'alimiyya) or all-powerful (qadiriyya). These relational attributes arise exclusively from the conceptual relationship between the real attributes and the essence, and they do not possess an independent ontological reality of their own.[11]
A real essential attribute is then further delineated into two distinct types. The first is "purely real" (haqiqi-yi mahd), which pertains exclusively and internally to the Divine Essence, with life serving as the primary example. The second type is "relational real" (haqiqi-yi dhat-i idafa), which inheres within the essence but intrinsically relates to entities external to it, such as knowledge (which implies an object that is known) and power (which implies an object upon which power is exercised).[12]
Notes
- ↑ Ṭabāṭabā'ī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn, al-Rasā'il al-tawḥīdiyya, 1419 AH, p. 24.
- ↑ Jawādī Āmulī, 'Abd Allāh, Tawḥīd dar Qur'ān, 1395 Sh, pp. 293-294; Subḥānī, Ja'far, al-Ilāhiyyāt 'alā hudā al-kitāb wa l-sunna wa l-'aql, 1413 AH, vol. 1, p. 84; Rabbānī Gulpāyigānī, 'Alī, 'Aqā'id-i istidlālī, vol. 1, p. 105.
- ↑ al-Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Ya'qūb, al-Kāfī, 1407 AH, vol. 1, p. 111.
- ↑ al-Jurjānī, 'Alī b. Muḥammad, al-Ta'rīfāt, 1412 AH, p. 95.
- ↑ Miṣbāḥ Yazdī, Muḥammad Taqī, Āmūzish-i 'aqā'id, 1384 Sh, p. 74; Rabbānī Gulpāyigānī, 'Alī, 'Aqā'id-i istidlālī (1), p. 105.
- ↑ Rabbānī Gulpāyigānī, 'Alī, 'Aqā'id-i istidlālī (1), p. 106.
- ↑ Jawādī Āmulī, 'Abd Allāh, Tawḥīd dar Qur'ān, 1395 Sh, pp. 290, 297, 304.
- ↑ Jawādī Āmulī, 'Abd Allāh, Tawḥīd dar Qur'ān, 1395 Sh, pp. 246, 297.
- ↑ Jawādī Āmulī, 'Abd Allāh, Tawḥīd dar Qur'ān, 1395 Sh, pp. 290, 293.
- ↑ Jawādī Āmulī, 'Abd Allāh, Tawḥīd dar Qur'ān, 1395 Sh, p. 305.
- ↑ Rabbānī Gulpāyigānī, 'Alī, 'Aqā'id-i istidlālī, vol. 1, p. 105.
- ↑ Rabbānī Gulpāyigānī, 'Alī, 'Aqā'id-i istidlālī (1), p. 106.
References
- al-Jurjānī, 'Alī b. Muḥammad, al-Ta'rīfāt, Tehran, Naṣir Khusraw Publications, 1412 AH.
- Jawādī Āmulī, 'Abd Allāh, Tawḥīd dar Qur'ān: tafsīr-i mawḍū'ī-yi Qur'ān-i Karīm, ed. Ḥaydar 'Alī Ayyūbī, Qom, Isrā', 8th edition, 1395 Sh.
- al-Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Ya'qūb, al-Kāfī, Tehran, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1407 AH.
- Miṣbāḥ Yazdī, Muḥammad Taqī, Āmūzish-i 'aqā'id, Tehran, International Printing and Publishing Company of the Islamic Propagation Organization, 17th edition, 1384 Sh.
- Rabbānī Gulpāyigānī, 'Alī, 'Aqā'id-i istidlālī, Qom, Nashr-i Hājar, n.d.
- Subḥānī, Ja'far, al-Ilāhiyyāt 'alā hudā al-kitāb wa l-sunna wa l-'aql, Qom, Mu'assisat al-Imām al-Ṣādiq (a), 1413 AH.
- Ṭabāṭabā'ī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn, al-Rasā'il al-tawḥīdiyya, Beirut, Mu'assisat al-Nu'mān, 1419 AH.