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Draft:Positive Attributes of God

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Positive Attributes of God (Arabic: الصفات الثبوتیة) are those attributes that signify a perfection inherent in the Divine Essence[1], such as knowledge, power, and life. These stand in contrast to the negative attributes (sifat salbiyya).[2] Islamic theologians and philosophers frequently refer to the positive attributes as Attributes of Beauty (jamal) and the negative attributes as Attributes of Majesty (jalal).[3] However, Imam Khomeini challenges the accuracy of this classification. He argues that attributes of beauty, such as "The All-Beneficent" (al-Rahman) and "The Most Merciful" (al-Rahim), evoke love and proximity to God, whereas attributes of majesty, like "The Subduer" (al-Qahhar) and "The Avenger" (al-Muntaqim), elicit awe and reverence. Consequently, he posits that both categories represent positive perfections of the Divine.[4]

According to Islamic scholars, attributes that are linguistically positive but conceptually negative—such as "Self-Sufficient" (Ghani, denoting the absence of need or poverty)—are excluded from the category of positive attributes.[5] Conversely, Mohammad Taqi Misbah Yazdi asserts that any attribute signifying an existential perfection, provided it implies no deficiency or limitation, can be established as a positive attribute of God.[6]

Historical Background

Certain scholars contend that the earliest systematic classification of God's positive attributes within hadith literature was formulated by Muhammad b. Ya'qub al-Kulayni in his seminal work, al-Kafi.[7] In this compilation, while categorizing the narrations of the Shi'a Imams (a), al-Kulayni explicitly distinguished between essential and action-based attributes.[8] By contrast, early Sunni hadith collections, such as Sahih al-Bukhari, catalog God's names and attributes under the broader chapter of Tawhid without employing a formal taxonomic division.[9]

Within the realm of Islamic theology (kalam), this formal classification was pioneered by the prominent theologian Shaykh al-Mufid.[10] In the domain of philosophy, al-Farabi systematically addressed the topic in his Fusus al-Hikma,[11] establishing a precedent that was subsequently expanded upon by Avicenna in al-Shifa,[12] Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi,[13] and Sadr al-Din Dashtaki.[14]

Mulla Sadra's Perspective

Mulla Sadra posited that the dichotomous division of divine attributes into positive and negative categories was fundamentally inspired by Qur'an 55:78.[15] He further delineated positive attributes into two distinct subcategories:

  • Real Attributes (sifat haqiqiyya): Attributes that describe God strictly in terms of His essence, independent of any relation to created beings.[16]
  • Relational Attributes (sifat idafiyya): Attributes that describe God in relation to His creation, such as His capacity as the Creator (Khaliqiyya) or the Sustainer (Raziqiyya).[17]

Following Mulla Sadra's intellectual framework, subsequent adherents of Transcendent Philosophy—including Mulla Abd Allah Zunuzi,[18] Aqa Ali Mudarris Zunuzi,[19] Mulla Hadi Sabzawari,[20] and 'Allama Tabataba'i[21]—were heavily influenced by this classification system.

Notes

  1. ↑ 'Alī Zamānī, Sukhan guftan az Khudā, 1386 Sh, p. 360.
  2. ↑ 'Allāma Ṭabāṭabā'ī, Nihāyat al-ḥikma, 1389 Sh, vol. 4, pp. 1110–1111.
  3. ↑ Mullā Ṣadrā, al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya, 1381 Sh, vol. 6, p. 109; Ardabīlī, Taqrīrāt-i falsafa-yi Imām Khumaynī, 1381 Sh, p. 109; Sayyid Zā'ir, Taḥlīl va barrasī-yi ṣifāt-i thubūtī-yi dhātī-yi Ilāhī, 1399 Sh, p. 29.
  4. ↑ Mūsawī Khumaynī, Ādāb al-ṣalāt, 1368 Sh, p. 333.
  5. ↑ Sayyid Zā'ir, Taḥlīl va barrasī-yi ṣifāt-i thubūtī-yi dhātī-yi Ilāhī, 1399 Sh, p. 30.
  6. ↑ Miṣbāḥ Yazdī, Āmūzish-i falsafa, 1390 Sh, vol. 2, p. 460.
  7. ↑ al-Kulaynī, al-Kāfī, 1407 AH, vol. 1, p. 111.
  8. ↑ Ilāh Badashtī, "Arā'a-yi ṭarḥī naw dar naẓariyya-yi ilāhīdānān-i Musulmān dar taqsīm-bandī-yi ṣifāt-i thubūtī", p. 34.
  9. ↑ al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Dār al-Arqam, p. 1548.
  10. ↑ Ilāh Badashtī, "Arā'a-yi ṭarḥī naw dar naẓariyya-yi ilāhīdānān-i Musulmān...", p. 35; al-Mufīd, Awā'il al-maqālāt fī l-madhāhib, Maktabat al-Dāwarī, p. 185.
  11. ↑ al-Fārābī, Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikma, 1381 Sh, chapters 6 to 21.
  12. ↑ Ibn Sīnā, al-Shifā', Ayatollah Mar'ashi Library, pp. 342–460.
  13. ↑ Suhrawardī, Majmū'a-yi muṣannafāt, 1387 Sh, vol. 1, pp. 41, 401, 408; vol. 4, p. 60.
  14. ↑ Dashtakī, Risāla fī ithbāt al-wājib ta'ālā, 1385 Sh, pp. 108, 308, 311.
  15. ↑ Mullā Ṣadrā, al-Asfār al-arba'a, 1981, vol. 6, p. 118.
  16. ↑ Mullā Ṣadrā, al-Asfār al-arba'a, 1381 Sh, vol. 6, p. 109; Mullā Ṣadrā, Sharḥ Uṣūl al-Kāfī, 1383 Sh, vol. 3, p. 282; 'Alī Zamānī, Sukhan guftan az Khudā, 1386 Sh, p. 360.
  17. ↑ 'Alī Zamānī, Sukhan guftan az Khudā, 1386 Sh, p. 360.
  18. ↑ Zunūzī, Lama'āt-i Ilāhiyya, 1362 Sh, pp. 232–233.
  19. ↑ Mudarris Zunūzī, Badāyi' al-ḥikam, 1376 Sh, p. 11.
  20. ↑ Sabzawārī, Sharḥ al-Manẓūma, Dār al-'Ilm, vol. 2, p. 157.
  21. ↑ Ṭabāṭabā'ī, Nihāyat al-ḥikma, Dār al-Tablīgh al-Islāmī, p. 250.

References

  • Ardabīlī, Sayyid 'Abd al-Ghanī, Taqrīrāt-i falsafa-yi Imām Khumaynī, Tehran, Mu'assisa-yi Tanẓīm va Nashr-i Āthār-i Imām Khumaynī, 1381 Sh.
  • Dashtakī, Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad, Risāla fī ithbāt al-wājib ta'ālā, ed. Muḥsin Chūramaqī, Qom, Mu'assisa-yi Tanẓīm va Nashr-i Āthār-i Imām Khumaynī, 1385 Sh.
  • Ilāh Badashtī, 'Alī, "Arā'a-yi ṭarḥī naw dar naẓariyya-yi ilāhīdānān-i Musulmān dar taqsīm-bandī-yi ṣifāt-i thubūtī", Pzhūhish-hā-yi Falsafī va Kalāmī, no. 50, Isfand 1390 Sh.
  • Imām Khumaynī, Sayyid Rūḥ Allāh, Ādāb al-ṣalāt, trans. Sayyid Aḥmad Fahri, Tehran, Payām-i Āzādī, 1368 Sh.
  • Ibn Sīnā, Ḥusayn b. 'Abd Allāh, al-Shifā' (al-Ilāhiyyāt), ed. Ḥasan Ḥassān-zāda, Qom, Ayatollah Mar'ashi Library, n.d.
  • al-Kulaynī, Muḥammad b. Ya'qūb, al-Kāfī, ed. 'Alī Akbar Ghaffārī and Muḥammad Ākhūndī, Tehran, Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 4th edition, 1407 AH.
  • Miṣbāḥ Yazdī, Muḥammad Taqī, Āmūzish-i falsafa, Qom, Mu'assisa-yi Āmūzishī va Pzhūhishī-yi Imām Khumaynī, 1st edition, 1390 Sh.
  • Mudarris Zunūzī, Āqā 'Alī, Badāyi' al-ḥikam, intro. Aḥmad Vā'iẓī, Qom, Nashr-i 'Allāma Ṭabāṭabā'ī, 1376 Sh.
  • al-Mufīd, Muḥammad b. Nu'mān, Awā'il al-maqālāt fī l-madhāhib va l-mukhtārāt, Qom, Maktabat al-Dāwarī, n.d.
  • Mullā Ṣadrā, Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm, al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya fī l-asfār al-'aqliyya al-arba'a, Beirut, Dār Iḥyā' al-Turāth al-'Arabī, 1981.
  • Mullā Ṣadrā, Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm, al-Ḥikma al-muta'āliya fī l-asfār al-'aqliyya al-arba'a, Tehran, Sadra Islamic Philosophy Foundation, 1381 Sh.
  • Mullā Ṣadrā, Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm, Sharḥ Uṣūl al-Kāfī, trans. Muḥammad Khwājawī, Tehran, Research Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, 1383 Sh.
  • Sabzawārī, Mullā Hādī, Sharḥ al-Manẓūma, Qom, Dār al-'Ilm, n.d.
  • Sayyid Zā'ir, 'Abbās, Taḥlīl va barrasī-yi ṣifāt-i thubūtī-yi dhātī-yi Ilāhī dar andīsha-yi Āyat Allāh Muḥsinī, Master's thesis in Islamic Theology, Qom, al-Mustafa International University, 1399 Sh.
  • Suhrawardī, Shihāb al-Dīn, Majmū'a-yi muṣannafāt, Qom, Islamic Philosophy Library Software, 1387 Sh.
  • Ṭabāṭabā'ī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn, Nihāyat al-ḥikma, Qom, Mu'assisa-yi Āmūzishī va Pzhūhishī-yi Imām Khumaynī, 1389 Sh.
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