Symposium 5
Existence of the Glorious Allah
Anwar:Last time you mentioned some rational proofs to the existence of the Great and Almighty Allah. Now, I want to know if Ahl Al-Bait (PBUT) dealt with this issue.
Hasan:I will show you some sayings from Ahl Al-Bait (PBUT) as examples.
Anwar:Allah rewards you well, my generous teacher!
Hasan:likewise, Akhi! You like to learn and I like to do a review my ideological knowledge. I will start with a Verse from the Noble Quran:(I have turned my face toward Him Who created (Fatara) the heavens and the earth).6;79
The Arabic word Fatara (Fitra) here means creation or
actually the First Creation. This is a realization that it is the Great and Almighty Allah who created the heavens and the earth; this is also emphasized in a discussion Imam Al-Sadiq (PBUH) had with a man who wanted to reason out the existence of the Glorious Allah.
Imam Al-Sadiq (PBUH): Have you been on a ship?
Man: Yes.
Imam Al-Sadiq (PBUH): Was it wrecked and started to sink so you thought you had no way to survive?
Man: Yes!
Imam Al-Sadiq (PBUH): Did you deep in your heart hold on to a power that can survive you?
Man: I did!
Imam Al-Sadiq (PBUH): Did you exactly know who is able to rescue you from your adversity?
Man: No.
Imam Al-Sadiq (PBUH): That was Allah! Your hear was attached to a rescuer that you did not know, and this is actually your awareness of the Creator.
Imam Ali (PBUH) also says:“Allah sent them His messengers and Prophets successively to help people grasp the covenant of His creation and to remind them of His forgotten blessing through arguments based on reason.”Amir Al-Mu’menin (Commander of the Faithful Ali PBUH) demonstrates that knowing Allah, Praised Be His Name, comes naturally, and that messengers and prophets had only the role of a reminder in this matter.
Moreover, the Great and Almighty Allah says in the Noble Quran:(Or were they created out of naught? Or are they the creators?)52;35. This Holy Verse gives clear evidence to the existence of the First Cause and refutes the nonexistence theory. Imam Al-Bagher (PBUH) also refers to this innate knowledge of the Glorious Allah: “Allah has created them to naturally know Him”.
The proof that everything is in need to the Glorious Allah in order to exist and to survive is this Verse:(O mankind! Ye are the poor in your relation to Allah. And Allah! He is the Absolute, the Owner of Praise)35;15.
Another proof is what Imam Al-Sadiq (PBUH) said to an unbeliever who questioned the creation of the world:“Actions speak for their doer; you know that a building
has a builder even if you do not see the one who built it”.
Moreover, the Glorious Allah, in a different Verse, refers to the fact that everything in the universe is His Creation, and that it takes a reasonable person to perceive it:(In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of night and day, and the ships which run upon the sea with that which is of use to men, and the water which Allah sendeth down from the sky, thereby reviving the earth after its death, and dispersing all kinds of beasts therein, and in the ordinance of the winds, and the clouds obedient between heaven and earth: are sign of Allah’s sovereignty for people who have sense)2;164.
Anwar:Very good! I’m very delighted. May I know some of the features of the Almighty Allah?
Hasan:Inshallah, I will talk about that next time.
Symposium 6
Qualities of the Glorious Allah
Anwar:Last session, we had a talk on how to prove the existence of the Glorious Allah, and you promised to tell me about the qualities of this Great and Merciful God.
Hasan:It is obvious, Anwar, that the previous evidence through which we proved the existence of the Glorious Allah also show His qualities that are absolute; Allah is affluent with all the perfect qualities and away from any possible ones.
Anwar:What do you mean by perfect qualities and possible qualities?
Hasan:This is what I like about you. You are precise which encourages me to give whatever explanation you want.
Anwar:Thanks for the compliment, sir.
Hasan:Thanks to you. All right, let’s go back to your question. Religious scholars introduced some perfect qualities and some other negative qualities, that is, perfect qualities exclusively belong to the very essence of the Glorious Allah such as knowledge, power and life, but the possible qualities belong to the creatures of Allah; this is the reason why they are known as negative qualities. Lightness, heaviness, tallness, shortness, matter, weakness, ignorance, etc. are some negative qualities to describe the possible entities or the creatures and not Allah, Praised Be His Name.
Anwar:I hear about other qualities like the Creator, the Provider, the Merciful and the Compassionate. What type of qualities are they?
Hasan:These are known actual qualities that describe the essence of Allah. In other words, Allah cannot be the Creator and not be The Everlasting, Omniscient or
Almighty. Also, He cannot be the Provider without having all the perfect qualities.
Anwar:Would you please tell me about monotheism (Tawhid) and its types?
Hasan:With all pleasure! Monotheism is to believe is the One with no associates who is unmatched and unrivaled. Monotheism is divided into several types; I will mention some of them:
· Essential monotheism: it is to believe that Allah is essentially the One, and that He has no associates because He is unmatched and unrivaled.
· Worship monotheism: it is to believe that Allah is only worthy of worship; we must only obey Him, be only loyal to Him, and worship nothing or no one – like the Devil, money, power, etc. – but Him.
· Quality monotheism: this is to believe that the personal qualities of Allah are part and parcel of His existence and that they are not additional. If we say, for instance, that the Glorious Allah is eternally old and His qualities are as old and eternal as He is, we get into a problem. This way we are accompanying something
·
· with Allah – here His qualities; as if we are saying that the qualities are old and eternal too; but the fact is that it is only the Glorious Allah Who can be described as Old and Eternal.
· Deeds monotheism: it is to believe that the doer – the Creator, the Provider, the One Who raises from the dead and the One Who puts to death, the Beneficent, the Maleficent, etc. – is only the Almighty Allah, and no other person no matter who could ever share these doings with Him. These are the types of monotheism that we believe in.
Anwar:Excellent! This talk we just had forces me to raise some more questions, but I will bring them up next time.
Hasan:All right. See you next time, then!