Symposium 13
More on Qualities of the Glorious Allah
Anwar:You don’t know how eager I am for our discussion. It is a huge bless!
Hasan:We are always thankful to the Glorious Allah for the blessing of knowledge.
Anwar:So, we are going to continue with our last discussion, Inshallah.
Hasan:Yes, with all pleasure! We were talking about the qualities of Allah, Praised Be his Name, and we stopped at the ‘deeds qualities’ which is the second part of the ‘proved qualities’.
Anwar:Yes, we did.
Hasan:We said the proved qualities are divided into two parts: essence and deed qualities. The essence qualities are actually part of the perfect qualities as they describe the perfection of the Almighty Allah unlike the deed qualities that come next; they are not suitable for the perfection of the Most Exalted, yet they are derived from His perfection.
Anwar:Would you please explain some of the perfection qualities?
Hasan:Yes, of course. Some of the essence qualities which are, in fact, part of the perfection qualities are the Omniscient, the Omnipotent and the Alive. I’ll explain these qualities in brief.
The Omniscient
Allah, Praised Be His Name, is Omniscient with no doubt, and ignorance is totally against His Devine Perfection. This is reasoned out through a number of debates:
· Opposite of knowledge is ignorance, and ignorance is a flaw that stands against the absolute perfection of the Almighty Allah. So, this is a proof that the Almighty Allah has the exact opposite of ignorance i.e. omniscience.
· The organization and harmony in the creation of the world refers to the full knowledge and wisdom of the organizer as wells of His omniscience to everything before their existence and after.
· His omniscience what we know is part of His omniscience; the Devine essence is transformed to us since our creation. So, He is the source of knowledge, and if He would be so, we wouldn’t have any.
Anwar:I have a question here. We read in the Noble Quran that:(And Verily We shall try you till We know those of you who strive hard and the steadfast, and till We test your record)47;35, and there are even more Verses indicating that knowledge can only come after testing and assessment. How does this agree with His Everlasting Omniscience?
Hasan:This is a very important and actually a brilliant question. We have to say that the Glorious Allah is the
Eternal, the Everlasting and the Old, and accordingly, His knowledge is as eternal, as everlasting and as old He is. This knowledge actually exists even before anything is created; He has knowledge to what when and where and how is going to be created taking into consideration every single possible detail.
This is eternal knowledge and it is not going to change; to show us His Omniscience, the Glorious Allah put it into thorough examination and testing to tell us that We know it all not only before testing you but even before you were existed, yet We test you to show what We already knew was going to take place.
Anwar:Very Good. So, His knowledgeiscomprehensive?
Hasan:His knowledge is so comprehensive that no one can ever surround it; He is Infinite and so is His knowledge. So, how is it possible to surround any of it? There are many Verses from the Noble Quran that prove this. I am going to give you some examples:
(And Allah knoweth all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth, and Allah is Aware of all things)49;16.
Here is another example from Al-Anfal Chapter:(Allah is Knower of all things)8;75.
This next Verse clearly refers to comprehension of the knowledge of Allah, Praised Be His Name:(And that Allah surroundeth all things in knowledge)65;12.
However, the following Verse proves the opposite, that is, creatures cannot cover the knowledge of the Almighty Allah:(And they encompass nothing of His knowledge save what He will)2;255.
In this regards, Imam Ali (PBUH) also says:“He is Aware of the uproar of the wild animals in the wilderness, the wrongdoings of the mankind on the sly, the diversity of whales in overwhelming seas, the clash of water with violent wind, …”.
Anwar:Very Good! I hope we can continue this same subject next time, Inshallah.
Hasan:Inshallah!
Symposium 14
More on Qualities of the Glorious Allah
The Omnipotent
Anwar:How about we move on to the next quality of the Glorious Allah, namely ‘the Omnipotent’?
Hasan:Gladly! Omnipotence is the ability of a doer to do something or to stop doing something. Omnipotent is the one who takes action and stops one whenever he wants so, with a sense and knowledge of what is good whether he takes that action or not.
Anwar:What are all these restrictions for?
Hasan:This is because we want to exclude the Almighty Allah from the state of acting without awareness,
knowledge and/or choice, like a burning fire that is capable of burning but without all of the above conditions. What comes out of a human being or any creature with awareness needs to carry preference which also requires knowledge and awareness – two principles of acting and leaving.
Anwar:Will you mention some evidence to Omnipotence of Allah, Praised Be His name?
Hasan:Yes!
· Omnipotence is perfection, and because He is the absolute perfection, then He is the source of it.
· The strength we have is from the Almighty Allah; He wouldn’t be able of giving us power unless He is the ultimate source of power.
· These results and the way they are organized is another proof to His Omnipotence.
Anwar:Why is choice paired with the omnipotence?
Hasan:Because the Doer with no choice cannot have any kind of intervention in any on action. It is like nature powers; they act with no choice. Moreover, this choice
is part of the perfection the Glorious Allah is characterized with, that is why He is the Absolute Perfection.
Anwar:So, is there any scrutiny in His choice in order for Him to give preference to one party against the other?
Hasan:Not at all! His choice is not like ours. He does not need to scrutinize in any way because His choice is eternal corresponding to His knowledge of good and evil since eternity, that is, His Choice is linked to His Omnipotence.
Anwar:I know that the Almighty Allah is capable of everything, that is, His power is general and not concerned with one specific thing without the other. However, how can we explain or respond to those who talk suspicions?
Hasan:Give me an example.
Anwar:Some ask ‘would the Glorious Allah be able to create an equal match of His?’ or ‘would He be able to create a stone He can’t lift?’, and this kind of suspicions.
Hasan:This kind of suspicions is raised by some ignorant and biased people who want to fill the believers with