It is important to remember that Allah is the Creator and the rest are the created. The attributes of Allah are never comparable with those of the created.
It is important to remember that Allah is the Creator and the rest are the created. The attributes of Allah are never comparable with those of the created.
The basic tenet of the Islamic faith is that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad (peace be upon him) is His Messenger.
The first part of this statement or postulate is called Tawheed (Oneness of God) and the second part is called Risalah (the Messengership of Prophet Muhammad). Tawheed has three components, namely:
- Tawheed of Lordship (Tawheed ar-Ruboobeeyah)
- Tawheed of Names and Attributes (Tawheed al-Asmaa was-Sifaat)
- Tawheed of Worship (Tawheed al-‘Ibaadah)
The first two components are the Knowledge aspect of Tawheed and the third is the Action or Worship aspect of Tawheed (Jahangir 2017; Jahangir 2002).
Earlier, we discussed the Tawheed of Lordship and Tawheed of Names. Today, we shall reflect upon the Attributes (Sifaat) of Allah, the second part of component-2 of Tawheed in the following.
1. Types of attributes
There are broadly two types of attributes of Allah. First, attributes that are associated with each of His Names. Second, attributes that are connected with His actions and sayings. Each name implies an attribute, while there is no end to the second type of attributes as can be gathered from the following verse:
“And if whatever trees upon the earth were pens and the sea [was ink], replenished thereafter by seven [more] seas, the words of Allah would not be exhausted. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise” (Qur’an, 31:27).
2. All perfectness and completeness
Allah’s attributes include, among others, life, ability, hearing, sight, knowledge, knowledge, wisdom, mercy, etc. All these attributes are all perfect and complete being free from any shortcomings or defects.
Allah says about Himself, “The highest description is for Allah. And He is the Almighty and all-Wise” (Qur’an, 16:60). As such, nothing in the heavens or the earth can escape Him as He is All-Knowing and All-Powerful (Qur’an, 35:44).
3. Positive Attributes
These are the “attributes that Allah has confirmed to be true in His Book or by the tongue [the saying] of His Messenger” (Peace be upon him) (Al-‘Uthaimeen, 2010, p. 63). These include the following:
- All-and-complete knowledge (Ilm), e.g., ‘He (Allah) knows everything’ (open or secret or even hidden in the hearts of the people) (Qur’an, 2:29).
- All-and-absolute power (Qudrat), e.g., “Indeed, Allah is powerful (Qadeer) over all things” (Qur’an, 2:20).
- All-hearing (Sama’), e.g. “Indeed Allah is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing” (Qur’an, 2:181).
- All-seeing (Basr), e.g., “And Allah is seeing what they do (good or bad)” (Qur’an, 2:96 and 110).
- Irresistible power of willing (Irada), e.g., “…but Allah does whatever He wills” (Qur’an, 2:253).
- Unparallel power of creation (Takween), e.g., “When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, “Be,” and it is.” (Qur’an, 2:117).
- Power of speech (Kalam). For example, the Qur’an is the Word of Allah. It is from Him as a warming/reminder for mankind. Like other attributes, Allah’s speech is not a creation. Allah says, “Nay, it (Qur’an- the Word of Allah) is indeed a dhikr (warning/reminder) (for mankind)” (Qur’an, 80:11). That is why, nobody can forge even a surah (chapter) of the Qur’an (Qur’an, 11:13).
- Self-existing life of Allah (Hayat). He is ever-living and the source of life of everyone and everything else. For example, the Qur’an (2:255) says, “Allah – there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living on His Own, the Sustainer (of all that exist).”
4. Negative Attributes
These are the “attributes that Allah has negated in reference to Himself- .i.e. has declared Himself to be free of – either in His Book or upon the tongue of the Messenger” (Peace be upon him) (Al-‘Uthaimeen, 2010, p. 65).
These are all defective or deficient, such as death sleep, drowsiness, ignorance, forgetfulness, tiredness, inability, etc. They are so many in number. A few of them may be mentioned by quoting the following verses of the Qur’an:
- “He (Allah) neither begets nor was He begotten” (112:3);
- “Neither drowsiness overtakes Him nor sleep” (2:255);
- “His Kursi extends over the heavens and the earth, and their preservation tires Him not” (2:255);
- “And rely upon the Ever-Living who never dies” (25:58);
- “Allah is not such that anything in the heavens or in the earth escapes Him” (35:44);
- ‘Allah is free from need of the worlds” (3:97); and
- “Nothing is like Him” (42:11).
5. Preponderance of the Positive Attributes
Pondering over Allah’s attributes opens the gate to ever-increasingly recognising the perfection and greatness of His attributes. This we may understand from the following Qur’anic verses:
“Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding. Who remembers Allah while standing or sitting or [lying] on their sides and give thought to the creation of the heavens and the earth, [saying], ‘Our Lord, You did not create this aimlessly; exalted are You [above such a thing]; then protect us from the punishment of the Fire'” (3:190-191).
Again, the following verses are also relevant to cite,
“O company of jinn and mankind, if you are able to pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You will not pass except by authority [from Allah]” (55:33).
6. Attributes Linked to Allah’s Self and Those Linked to His Actions
These two categories are from the positive attributes. The first category (being linked to Allah’s Self) includes His attributes of knowledge, ability, hearing, sight, almightiness, wisdom, loftiness, and greatness and also His features like His Face, His Hands, and His two eyes (Al ‘Uthaimeen, 2010, p. 69).
And the second category (since the attributes within it involve Allah’s actions) is linked to His will. So, He does something, if wills to do so.
For example, Allah says, “His command is only when He intends a thing that He says to it, “Be,” and it is” (Qur’an, 36:82).
7. Uniqueness of Allah’s Attributes
Allah is the Creator and the rest are the created. The attributes of Allah are never comparable with those of the created.
For example, the Qur’an says that “The Most Beneficent (Ar-Rahman) rose over the Throne” (20:5). Now, if we compare Allah’s rising over His Throne with humans rising over a throne, that will be wrong because we do not know how Allah rose over.
In brief, we should not and cannot compare our attributes with those of Allah’s because “nothing is like Him” (Qur’an, 42:11).
8. No Innovation of Allah’s Attributes
We should confine ourselves to those attributes of Allah that are affirmed by the Qur’an and Sunnah instead of inventing them from our own.
The Qur’an and Sunnah affirm attributes of Allah in one of the three ways (Al ‘Uthaimeen, 2010, pp. 77-78):
- By explicit mention, such Allah’s as mercy and almightiness;
- By mentioning a Name that indicates an attribute, such as Oft-Forgiving implies the quality of forgiving; and
- By the explicit mentioning of an action or description, which indicates an attribute, such as Allah rose over His Throne.
In conclusion, it should be maintained that Allah’s Being (Zaat) is Uncreated (Qadeem), All-Existing (Azali), and Ever-Existing (Abadi). The same is true about His attributes (Sifaat) as well.
Everything else other than Allah’s Being and Attributes (called Hadith) was nonexistent and came into existence after being created by Allah, the Almighty (Siddiq,n.d.).
References
Al ‘Uthaimin, Muhammad bin Saleh (2010), The Beautiful Names and Attributes of Allah: Important Principles to Remember. Riyadh and other places: Darussalam.
Jahangir, Khondokar Abdullah (2017), Qur’an-Sunnaher Aloke Islami Aqida (in Bangla) (Islamic Creed in the Qur’an and Sunnah. Jhenidah: As-Sunnah Publications.
Jahangir, Khondokar Abdullah (2002), Imam Abu Haneefah’s Al-Fiqh Al-Akbar: The (Bengali) Translation and Explanation. Jhenidah: As-Sunnah Publications.
Siddiq, Ghulam Ghau (n.d.) “What are the Negative Attributes (Sifat Salabiyya) of Allah Almighty? Part 2′, https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-q-a/ghulam-ghaus-siddiqi-new-age-islam/-negative-attributes-sifat-salabiyya-allah-almighty-part-2/d/117676 viewed on 23 December 2021)
The Qur’an, https://corpus.quran.com/
