A Brief of Theism in Islam (1)

God in Islam

Islam is a monotheistic religion; it offers that God is unique. He has no associate. It is mentioned in the Koranic verses that there is no God but Allah. This is a principal fact, therefore Muslims are supposed to say in “Azan” (call to prayer, said before prayer): God is Great. There is no God except Allah. Muhammad is His messenger.

God in the Koran

In Islam, God is Allah which refers to unique, Creator of the whole world and creatures, the Absolute Power and the one who creates and make creatures die: “O Mankind, a parable has been composed, so listen to it! Those whom appeal to other than to God will never create a fly, even though they combined together to do so. Yet if the fly should snatch anything away from them, they would not even know how to recover it from it. How weak the seeker is, and anything he seeks!” [Pilgrimage (Hajj)/ 73]
“Instead of Him, they have taken on (other) gods which do not create anything while they themselves have been created. They control no harm nor do they control death nor life, nor even rebirth” [The Standard (Forghan)/ 3]

God’s attributes

1) The privative and fixed attributes
The attributes which indicate existential perfection, called “privative attributes” such as: Knowledge and Knowledgeable, Power and Mighty, Life and Alive, Creation and Creator, etc. The attributes which indicate divesting God’s of his nature: Holy, Praiseworthy, etc. also the deficient attributes which do not belong to God: corporeality, place, futility, etc.
The fixed attributes are also called “glorious attributes”.

2) The inherent and actual attributes
If for abstracting one of the attributes of God’s nature and describing the nature with the help of attributes; only considering the nature would be enough, this is called “inherent attributes”: Life and Alive, Determination, Knowledge and Knowledgeable, Power and Mighty, etc.
But if the actual aspect in God’s nature is considered, this would be called “actual attributes”: Creation and Creator, Life and Reviver, Forgiving, etc.

Proving God’s attributes

There are two ways for proving God’s attributes: by intellect and by revelation

God’s names and attributes in the Koran

According to the Koran, God owns Great Names (Asmaa al-Hosna) attributed to Him either based on the Names, the acts or the attributes which show His Great existential perfection.
Based on “Almizan Exegesis” (tafsir-e almizan) there are 127 Names for God which are mentioned in the Koran.

God in traditions

In traditional books also, there are traditions of Holy Prophet and Imams; which mention 99 Names of God, some of them as follows:
The Healing, The Generous, The Judge, The Glorious, The Beneficent, The Almighty, The Chaste, etc.

God form the Islamist scholars’ viewpoint

In view of Islamist scholars, God is a Pure Existence who owns all the existential perfections. His oneness is exactly the same as His Essence, therefore He is unique.
There is no potential aspect in His Nature, so He can not be changed or annihilated. He is not bound by time and place. He is the Abstract Essence, Almighty God have Pure Knowledge and Determination and Absolute Power.
He is Self-existent and Eternal. There are different views on God’s Names and attributes in each of the Islamic sects.

The related topics:
A Brief of Theism in Islam (2)

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