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Negative Theology

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Negative Theology or Apophatic Theology is a view concerning the Divine Attributes according to which God can be described only in negative terms. According to this approach, all positive attributes of God are reduced to negative attributes. Its proponents, including al-Shaykh al-Saduq, Ya'qub b. Ishaq al-Kindi, Mulla Rajab Ali Tabrizi, and the majority of the Mu'tazila, cite verses such as "Laysa ka-mithlihi shay'" (Arabic: لَیْسَ کَمِثْلِهِ شَیْءٌ; "Nothing is like Him") and hadiths that negate divine attributes in order to avoid likening God to creatures (tashbih) and prevent polytheism.

This approach has been criticized by Muslim scholars, including Murtada Mutahhari and Muhammad Taqi Misbah Yazdi, who maintain that human reason is capable of knowing God's attributes and that interpreting positive attributes in purely negative terms is incorrect and incomplete. They also argue that this approach is inconsistent with Qur'anic verses and hadiths that affirm attributes of God.

Status and Conceptualization

Negative theology is one of the views concerning the possibility of knowing the Divine Attributes.[1] Its proponents maintain that God and His attributes can be described only in negative terms.[2] In their view, human beings cannot know God's positive attributes and can comprehend only His negative attributes. Accordingly, positive attributes are reduced to negative meanings. For example, God's being all-knowing means that He is not ignorant, while His being all-powerful means that He is not incapable.[3]

According to al-Shaykh al-Saduq, whenever God is described by His essential attributes, their opposites are in fact being negated of Him. For example, describing God as possessing knowledge negates ignorance from Him, while describing Him as possessing power negates incapacity.[4] Ya'qub b. Ishaq al-Kindi, who regarded the Intellect as incapable of knowing God, likewise maintained that a Philosopher cannot speak affirmatively about God and can know Him only through negative propositions.[5]

Al-Shaykh al-Saduq,[6] Ya'qub b. Ishaq al-Kindi, a philosopher of the 3rd/9th century,[7] Qadi Sa'id al-Qummi, a Shi'a mystic of the 12th/18th century,[8] Mulla Salih al-Mazandarani,[9] and most Mu'tazilites[10] are counted among the proponents of negative theology. Mulla Rajab Ali Tabrizi is considered one of the most important theorists of apophatic theology in Shi'a philosophy.[11] He denied the identity of the Divine Essence and Attributes.[12] Negative theology also has proponents in other revealed religions, including Judaism and Christianity, such as the Jewish philosopher Maimonides.[13]

This discussion has been addressed in Islamic theology, mysticism, and modern theology.[14]

Arguments

Proponents of negative theology have put forward several arguments in support of their view.[15] Some of these are as follows:

  • Avoiding the likening of God to creatures (tashbih):[16] Any attribute affirmed of God might be derived from the characteristics of created beings and thus lead to likening Him to creatures.[17] This argument rests on the limitations of human reason in knowing God and its inability to comprehend the divine attributes.[18]
  • Avoiding polytheism and the doctrine of the Trinity:[19] Avoiding polytheism and the doctrine of the Trinity is a central concern of proponents of negative theology.[20]
  • Avoiding composition in God: God is simple (basīṭ), not composite; therefore, no attribute should be affirmed of Him if doing so would introduce composition into His essence. This argument is supported by the first sermon of Nahj al-Balagha.[21]

Verses and Hadiths

Qur'anic verses[22] and hadiths[23] have also been cited in support of negative theology. These include the verse "Laysa ka-mithlihi shay'" (Arabic: لَیْسَ کَمِثْلِهِ شَیْءٌ; "Nothing is like Him"),[24] as well as verses containing the word subḥān, which expresses God's transcendence and freedom from imperfection.[25]

Narrations transmitted from Imam Ali (a)[26] and Imam al-Rida (a)[27] state that the doctrine of divine unity is based on negating attributes of God. The rationale given is that every attribute and the thing qualified by it are created, and every created thing has a creator who is free of that attribute and qualification. Qadi Sa'id al-Qummi interprets the negation of attributes in these narrations as meaning that all positive attributes are reduced to negative attributes.[28]

Critiques

Most Muslim philosophers and theologians maintain that human reason is capable of knowing the divine names, attributes, and acts.[29] On this basis, some Muslim scholars have criticized the negative approach to theology and God's attributes.

Murtada Mutahhari argues that avoiding likening the Creator to created beings should not prevent the attribution to God of qualities that are also found in creatures. He maintains that the distinction between the Creator and creatures lies in necessity and possibility (wujub and imkan), infinity and finitude, and being intrinsic (bi-l-dhāt) rather than derivative (bi-l-ghayr). For example, God's knowledge and human knowledge are both forms of knowledge; however, God's knowledge is independent, intrinsic, infinite, and absolute.[30] Mutahhari also argues that negative theology renders human reason incapable of knowing God and ultimately leads to the denial of God and His unity.[31]

Muhammad Taqi Misbah Yazdi maintains that interpreting positive attributes as negative meanings is an incorrect understanding of absolute tanzih (divine transcendence). According to him, negating one of two contradictories entails affirming the other. For example, if knowledge and ignorance are contradictory, negating ignorance of God affirms His knowledge.[32] He explains that negating ignorance without understanding knowledge leaves the meaning incomplete; to understand what it means for God not to be ignorant, knowledge must first be affirmed.[33]

Ja'far Subhani, while acknowledging the limitations of human reason in knowing God and His negative attributes, argues that reducing positive attributes to negative ones is inconsistent with Qur'anic verses that describe God through positive attributes.[34] According to Misbah Yazdi, the numerous Qur'anic verses concerning God's attributes, together with the Qur'an's encouragement of reflection and contemplation, indicate that human beings are capable of understanding the divine attributes.[35]

See Also

Notes

  1. ↑ See: ʿAlī Khānī, Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī; sayr-i tārīkhī wa barrasī-yi dīdgāh-hā, pp. 90–91.
  2. ↑ ʿAlī Khānī, Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī; sayr-i tārīkhī wa barrasī-yi dīdgāh-hā, p. 91.
  3. ↑ Muṭahharī, Majmūʿa-yi āthār, vol. 6, p. 1031.
  4. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Tawḥīd, p. 148.
  5. ↑ Tawakkulī, Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī, p. 97.
  6. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Tawḥīd, p. 148; Miṣbāḥ Yazdī, Khudā-shināsī, p. 132.
  7. ↑ Tawakkulī, Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī, p. 97.
  8. ↑ ʿAlī Khānī, Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī; sayr-i tārīkhī wa barrasī-yi dīdgāh-hā, p. 100; Tawakkulī, Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī, p. 98.
  9. ↑ Miṣbāḥ Yazdī, Khudā-shināsī, p. 132.
  10. ↑ Miṣbāḥ Yazdī, Khudā-shināsī, p. 132.
  11. ↑ Fanā, Tabrīzī, Mullā Rajab-ʿAlī, vol. 6, p. 420.
  12. ↑ Fanā, Tabrīzī, Mullā Rajab-ʿAlī, vol. 6, p. 420.
  13. ↑ Tawakkulī, Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī, pp. 93–94.
  14. ↑ ʿAlī Khānī, Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī; sayr-i tārīkhī wa barrasī-yi dīdgāh-hā, p. 90.
  15. ↑ See: Tawakkulī, "Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī", pp. 99–104.
  16. ↑ See: Ṣadūq, Al-Tawḥīd, p. 148.
  17. ↑ Muṭahharī, Majmūʿa-yi āthār, vol. 6, p. 1031; ʿAlī Khānī, "Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī; sayr-i tārīkhī wa barrasī-yi dīdgāh-hā", p. 91.
  18. ↑ Tawakkulī, "Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī", pp. 102–103.
  19. ↑ Tawakkulī, Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī, p. 96.
  20. ↑ Tawakkulī, Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī, p. 106.
  21. ↑ Tawakkulī, Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī, pp. 99–100.
  22. ↑ For example, see: Qur'an 42:11; Qur'an 37:180; Qur'an 23:91.
  23. ↑ Ibn Shuʿba al-Ḥarrānī, Tuḥfat al-ʿuqūl, p. 61; Ṣadūq, al-Tawḥīd, pp. 35, 57; Sayyid Raḍī, Nahj al-balāgha, Sermon 1, p. 39.
  24. ↑ Qur'an 42:11.
  25. ↑ Tawakkulī, Ilāhiyyāt-i salbī, p. 96.
  26. ↑ Ibn Shuʿba al-Ḥarrānī, Tuḥfat al-ʿuqūl, p. 61.
  27. ↑ Ṣadūq, al-Tawḥīd, p. 35.
  28. ↑ Qummī, Sharḥ tawḥīd al-Ṣadūq, vol. 1, p. 116.
  29. ↑ Saʿīdī-Mihr, Āmūzish-i kalām-i Islāmī 1, pp. 196–197.
  30. ↑ Muṭahharī, Majmūʿa-yi āthār, vol. 6, p. 1034.
  31. ↑ Muṭahharī, Majmūʿa-yi āthār, vol. 6, p. 1035.
  32. ↑ Miṣbāḥ Yazdī, Āmūzish-i falsafa, vol. 2, p. 460.
  33. ↑ Miṣbāḥ Yazdī, Āmūzish-i falsafa, vol. 2, p. 460.
  34. ↑ Subḥānī, al-Ilāhiyyāt, vol. 2, p. 8.
  35. ↑ Miṣbāḥ Yazdī, Khudā-shināsī, p. 134.

References

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