The concept of Diety and God Almighty.Part1

God Almighty should be considered from five perspectives. One is His “Essence” as Divine Being (Dhat in Islamic terminology), which only He can know.

A Prophetic Tradition says:

“Do not reflect on God’s ‘Essence’; instead, reflect on His works and acts.”

God has no partners, likes or resemblance, as pointed to by the verse:

There is nothing like or compared unto Him (42:11).

The second perspective is His Essential, “Innate” Qualities as being God, which are the Attributes’ source.

The third perspective is His Attributes, which are of three kinds:

•Essential Attributes (e.g., Existence, Having No Beginning, Eternal Permanence, Being Unlike the Created, Self-Subsistence);

•Positive Attributes (Life, Knowledge, Power, Speech, Will, Hearing, Seeing, Creating);

•Innumerable “Negative” Attributes, summed up as “God is absolutely free from any defect and shortcoming.”

The Attributes are the sources of the Names: Life gives rise to the All-Living, Knowledge to the All-Knowing, and Power to the All-Powerful.

The Names are the sources of the acts: giving life has its source in the All-Living, and knowing everything down to the smallest detail or thing originates in the All-Knowing. God is “known” through His acts, Names, and Attributes.

Whatever exists in the universe, in the material and immaterial worlds, is the result of the Names’ and Attributes’ manifestations: Universal and individual provision points to His Name the All-Providing, and the All-Healing is the source of remedies and patient recovery. Philosophy has its source in Wisdom, and so on. The acts, Names, and Attributes are the “links” between God and the created, or the “reflectors” with which to have knowledge of God.

Although we try to know or recognize God by His acts, Names, and Attributes, we must not think of Him in terms of associating likeness or comparison unto Him, for nothing resembles Him. He is absolutely One, Single, and totally different from all that exists or has the potential to exist. In this sense, His Oneness is not in terms of number. To have some knowledge of Him through His acts, Names, and Attributes, some comparisons are permissible.

This is pointed to in the verse:

To God applies the most sublime attributes (16:60).