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Draft:Negative Attributes of God

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Negative Attributes of God (Arabic: الصفات السلبية, al-Ṣifāt al-Salbiyya), in contrast to the Positive Attributes (al-Ṣifāt al-Thubūtiyya), denote those characteristics that negate imperfections and deficiencies from God, serving as indicators of the purity and sanctity of the Divine Essence.[1] Qualities such as non-corporeality, non-substantiality, non-accidentality, invisibility, non-spatiality, non-incarnation, and non-union are classified among the Negative Attributes of God.[2][3] These attributes are understood not as positive existential qualities, but rather as the negation of defects and deficiencies.[4][5]

Ja'far Subhani and Morteza Motahhari maintain that all Negative Attributes ultimately signify the negation of imperfection from the Divine. Consequently, they cannot be exhaustively enumerated; rather, the multiplicity of Negative Attributes arose as a theological response to the erroneous beliefs of various sects.[6] For instance, the "negation of incarnation and union" addresses the Christian doctrine regarding the union of God with Jesus (a), while the attribute of "invisibility" refutes the position of the People of Hadith and Ash'arites, who maintain that God will be visible in the Hereafter.[7] It is reported that the Mu'tazila, in their effort to avoid anthropomorphism (tashbīh), adopted a stance of Negative Theology (apophatic theology),[8] asserting that one can only comprehend what God is not, rather than what He is.[9] Qadi Sa'id al-Qummi further argues that ascribing Positive Attributes to God implies a limitation within the Divine concept.[10] However, to escape the doctrine of Negation of the Divine Attributes (taʿṭīl)—which posits that reason is incapable of grasping either God's Negative or Positive Attributes—[11] he suggests that indirect knowledge of the Positive Attributes may be attained through the Negative ones.[12]

In certain theological works, Islamic scholars have employed the term "Attributes of Majesty" (Ṣifāt al-Jalāl) as a synonym for Negative Attributes.[13] Ibn Maytham al-Bahrani is reportedly the first to have substituted the term Attributes of Majesty for Negative Attributes.[14] However, Imam Khomeini regards this terminology as imprecise. He argues that while Attributes of Beauty (Ṣifāt al-Jamāl) inspire intimacy and attachment in the servant, Attributes of Majesty evoke fear and awe; yet, both categories can be classified as Positive Attributes.[15]

Certain Shi'a scholars posit that God's Negative Attributes are reducible to Positive Attributes. For example, Mulla Sadra argues that Negative Attributes stem from the negation of imperfection and non-existence. Since the negation of a negation equates to affirmation, the negation of an imperfection signifies perfection.[16] Misbah Yazdi similarly asserts that when attributes such as "ignorance" are negated from God, one is effectively negating the privative aspect of ignorance, a process that necessitates conceiving its positive correlate (i.e., knowledge).[17] Conversely, some Shi'a theologians, such as Qadi Sa'id al-Qummi[18] and Mulla Rajab'ali Tabrizi,[19] maintain that all Positive Attributes are reducible to negative concepts.[20]

Certain philosophers assert that characterizing God with Positive Attributes is theoretically unsound, as God possesses no quiddity (māhiyya) and is neither composite nor accidental. Consequently, only negative descriptions of God are valid, as He is free from imperfection and negligence.[21] Qadi Sa'id al-Qummi also holds that true knowledge of God is possible only by purifying Him from Positive Attributes.[22] However, Imam Khomeini underscores the significance of Positive Attributes while maintaining that Negative Attributes are also essential. He argues that the latter signify the negation of all deficiencies from the Divine Essence; without them, God could not be characterized as Absolute Perfection and Beauty.[23]

Notes

  1. ↑ Mullā Ṣadrā, Al-Ḥikma al-mutaʿāliya, 1981, vol. 6, p. 120.
  2. ↑ Subḥānī, Al-Ilāhiyyāt, 1413 AH, p. 83.
  3. ↑ Some have encapsulated these attributes in verse: "He is neither composite nor corporeal, neither visible nor localized / He is without partner or extraneous meanings; know the Creator as Self-Sufficient." (Muṭahharī, Dars-hā-yi ilāhiyyāt-i shafā, vol. 1, p. 84.)
  4. ↑ Subḥānī, Manshūr-i jāwīd, Qom, vol. 1, p. 30.
  5. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Nahāyat al-ḥikma, 1386 Sh, vol. 4, p. 1110.
  6. ↑ Subḥānī, Manshūr-i jāwīd, Qom, vol. 1, p. 31; Muṭahharī, Dars-hā-yi ilāhiyyāt-i shafā, 1401 Sh, vol. 1, p. 84.
  7. ↑ Subḥānī, Manshūr-i jāwīd, Qom, vol. 1, p. 31; Muṭahharī, Dars-hā-yi ilāhiyyāt-i shafā, 1401 Sh, vol. 1, p. 84.
  8. ↑ Tawakkulī, "Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī", pp. 96-97.
  9. ↑ ʿAlīkhānī, "Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī; sayr-i tārīkhī wa barrasi-yi dīdgāh-hā", p. 93.
  10. ↑ Naẓarī et al., "Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī-yi Qāḍī Saʿīd al-Qummī wa muʿḍal-i taʿṭīl", p. 104.
  11. ↑ Miṣbāḥ Yazdī, Āmūzish-i falsafa, 1390 Sh, vol. 2, p. 368.
  12. ↑ Naẓarī et al., "Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī-yi Qāḍī Saʿīd al-Qummī wa muʿḍal-i taʿṭīl", p. 104.
  13. ↑ Sharīf Dārābī Shīrāzī, Tuḥfat al-murād, n.d., p. 112.
  14. ↑ Salmānī, "Jalāl wa jamāl: dar kalām", p. 526.
  15. ↑ Mūsawī Khumaynī, Ādāb al-ṣalāt, 1368 Sh, p. 333.
  16. ↑ Ibrāhīmī Dīnānī, "Basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa", p. 436.
  17. ↑ Miṣbāḥ Yazdī, Āmūzish-i falsafa, 1390 Sh, vol. 2, p. 460.
  18. ↑ Qāḍī Saʿīd al-Qummī, Sharḥ al-tawḥīd al-ṣadūq, 1419 AH, vol. 1, p. 179.
  19. ↑ Mullā Rajabʿalī Tabrīzī, Risāla-yi ithbāt-i wājib, in Muntakhabātī az āthār-i ḥukamā-yi ilāhī-yi Īrān, 1378 Sh, vol. 1, pp. 157–258.
  20. ↑ Sayyid Zāʾir, Taḥlīl wa barrasi-yi ṣifāt-i thubūti-yi dhātī-yi ilāhī, 1399 Sh, p. 30.
  21. ↑ Khawāṣṣ, "Maʿnā-shināsī-yi awṣāf-i ilāhī az dīdgāh-i Ibn Maymūn wa Qāḍī Saʿīd al-Qummī", p. 57.
  22. ↑ Khawāṣṣ, "Maʿnā-shināsī-yi awṣāf-i ilāhī az dīdgāh-i Ibn Maymūn wa Qāḍī Saʿīd al-Qummī", p. 62.
  23. ↑ Khumaynī, Sharḥ-i chihil ḥadīth, 1380 Sh, p. 616.

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