THE CONCEPT OF GOD IN
MUS.T.AFĀ MAH...MŪD’S
WORKS
By
Muhammad Amin A. Samad
*
*
Dr. W. Haddad
God and Man in Contemporary
Muslim Thought
April 9, 1979
(397-702D)
INSTITUTE OF ISLAMIC STUDIES
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION …………………………………… 2
1. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD …………………… 3
2. ALLAH AND HIS MOST BEAUTIFUL NAMES … 5
CONCLUSION………………………………………………
10
ENDNOTES …………………………………………..… 11
BIBLIOGRAPHY
………………………………………….. 14
INTRODUCTION
This paper is an attempt to study the concept of God as
presented by Mus.t.afā Mah.mūd
in his following works: الله, القُرْآنُ : مُحَاوَلَةٌ لِفَهْمٍ عَصْرِيّ , الوُجُوْدُ وَ اْلعَدَم , حِوَارٌ مَعَ صَدِيْقِي ْالمُلْحِد , المَارْكْسِيَّةُ
وَ
اْلإسْلام , and ُلغْزُ الْمَوْت . The paper is divided into two parts: 1. The
existence of God, and 2. Allah and His Most Beautiful Names.
Mus.t.afā Mah.mūd
is prolific writer. He wrote more than forty-five books: studies, short
stories, plays, travels, and collections of articles. Like Wah.īd al-Dīn Khān, he is also a polemic
writer and deals with defending Islam from secular and atheistic influence. His
tendency towards Sufism is obvious in his writings, as we shall see in this
paper.
1.THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
The author asserts that the absolute existence belongs
to Allah alone. Other than Allah is عَدَم (non-existence). The existence of Allah’s
creatures from non-existence occurred through His blessing. He gives them “the
dress of existence (لِبْسَةُ اْلوُجُوْد)
“ to become the object of the
manifestation of His Names and attributes. Therefore, the author upholds the
idea of وَحْدَةُ اْلوُجُوْد (wah.dat al-wujūd, the oneness of
Existence), i.e., that God alone is the real and absolute existence,
which he asserts to be purely Islamic. This is because he considers the Hindu
conception of oneness of Existence called “pantheism” to be deviation from the
truth, for he denies the possibility of union between God and man. The author
contends that man in the eternal truth is non-existent, for he only comes into
being through God’s blessing; he cannot unite with the absolute existent, God.[1]
Mus.t.afā Mah.mūd
contends further that the relationship between God and His creatures is like
that between soul and body where there is neither incarnation (حُلُوْل), union (إتِّحَاد), connection (إتِّصَال), nor separation إنْفِصَال) between the two.[2] God manifests Himself in His creation without
union or incarnation, like the appearance of one’s face in the mirror.[3]
Dealing with the question raised by those who do not
believe in God, i.e., “If God exists,
then who creates God?” the author’s answer can be outlined as follows:
a.
The question itself is wrong,
because: 1) the Creator cannot be, at the same time, created; 2) God who
created time and space is not subject to them; 3) God who creates the law of
causality (قَانُوْنُ
السَّبَبِيَّة) is not subject to it.
b.
Emmanuel Kant (1724-1804 C.
E.) himself admitted that reason cannot encompass the infinite truths. Reason
in its nature is only capable of perceiving جُزْئِيَّات (juz’iyyāt, particles), not the absolute existence (اْلوُجُوْدُ اْلكُلِّيّ), the existence of God. Kant asserted further that it is
through conscience and not through reason that we perceive God, like the
occurrence of thirst indicates the existence of water.
c.
Aristotle (348-322 B.C.) in
his sequent digression of causes said that the chair is made of wood, wood is
from the tree which, in turn, is from a seed, and the seed is from the farmer,
and so on, until this sequence ends with a first mover which does not need a
cause. This, according to Mah.mūd, is God.[4]
There are many
reasons that lead the atheists to reject the existence of God. One of them is
the existence of evil. The atheists contend that since this world is full of
evil it cannot be created by a Creator who is Wise, All Knowing, Merciful and Generous.
In refuting this statement Mah.mūd gives us
the following arguments:
1.
Judging a play by watching
only one act of it is misleading. A boy will cry when his father takes him to
the hospital for operation and will consider it an evil deed. But when the boy
grows up he will understand that behind this accidental evilness there is a
permanent goodness, for the sake of which forbearance is necessary. Man’s life
is in the same way. His life is still going on, and his death does not unveil
the curtain, because the play goes on after his death where there are still
other acts. Therefore, a play cannot be judged by witnessing only one act of
it, i.e., the presence of evil in this world.
2.
Man’s personality, character,
firmness (صَلابَة) and
determination (عَزْم) are firmly related to his
suffering. Without wrong-doing (إٍِسَاءَة), hurting (أَلَم) and injustice (ظًُلْم) there would be no forgiveness,
mercy and justice.
3.
A thing that seems to be a
defect in a partial view is actually a blessing and goodness in the whole
sight. It is like what seems to be a dirty spot in a picture looked very
closely, while in fact, it is a shadow without which the picture will not
appear beautiful Earthquakes, volcanoes and other natural disasters, in spite
of destroying thousands of people, have good function in keeping the balance
between the disrupting and boiling inner part of the earth and its stable hard
peel. Earthquakes restore mountains to their proper places after they have
slowly moved. And mountains are like props protecting the peel of the earth
from exploding, due to the hard pressure of the inner part of the earth.
4.
Evil is one aspect of the
nature of freedom given to man by God. Freedom of will will have no
significance if it is exclusively for doing good. Man will become compelled to
do good things only. Therefore, doing evil is another aspect of man’s freedom
of will.
5. Good
and evil are two sides of one coin (وَجْهَانِ لِعُمْلَةٍ
وَاحِدَةٍ). Flood and wars, for example, are evil on one side, but they
mean life on the other. Wars divided people into families, clans, tribes,
nations, and finally bring them into one international table in the Security
Council of the United Nations. Through scientific research during the war
people made discoveries and inventions: penicillin, blood transfusion, atomic
energy, rockets, jet engine, submarines, radar, etc.
6.
Evil in its pure origin does
not exist. There is only lack of goodness, then the lack that accompanies the
limitations of man as well as of other creatures. Otherwise, man will become
free from defect, and in turn, will become god, i.e., every man is
created to become a god, and this is impossible.[5]
2. ALLAH AND HIS MOST BEAUTIFUL
NAMES
The author gives us his analysis on the
word الله (Allāh). He asserts that الله is a proper name of the Divine Essence
that is wrapped with divine secrets. It is the only name to which His Most
Beautiful Names are referred. We say, for example that الصَّمَد (al-S.amad) is the name of
Allah, not vice-versa. الله is the only name which is used in the formula of the shahādah
(confession of the faith). We say:
“There is no god but Allah” and it is not valid to say, for example, ‘there is
no god but the Very Patient (الصَّبُور).” We may
share Him in His other names. We can say that a person is كَرِيْم
(generous), رَحِيْم (merciful), or عَظِيْم (magnificent), but we
cannot say that he is Allāh.[6]
Mah.mūd
goes further on with his mystical analysis about the word الله . He
asserts that this word has no opposite.
It begins with letter أَلِف (ا) that is the first one of the alphabet. It
is the “Adam أَلِف is bent to
become letter بَاء (ب) , حَاء (ح) , نُوْن (ن), and ” of letters,
because other letters take their shapes from it, i.e., the straight so
on. Letter أَلِف is the
symbol of one in numbers. One is the beginning of all numbers.[7]
If we drop the أَلِف and come to the second letter of the word الله we find the
letter لام (ل). This letter
indicates possession, i.e., لـِِ (li) which means “belong (s) to” After we have dropped the أَلِف in the word الله the word becomeلله (lillāh), which means “belong(s) to Allah.”
There are many Qur’ānic verses which mention لله, among which are: لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ
وَالْأَرْضِ “Unto Allah belongeth (لله) whatever in the heavens and the earth.”[8]
قُلْ لِمَنْ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ
وَالْأَرْضِ قُلْ لِلَّه...ِ(الأنعام : ١٢) “Say: Unto whom belongeth
whatever is in the heavens and the earth? Say: Unto Allah (لله).” (Q. 6:12).
The author goes on and says that if
the second letter on the word لله is also dropped the word becomes لَهُ (lahu),
which means “belong(s) to Him.” There are also many Qur’anic verses that
mention the word لَهُ. One of
them is as follows: وَتَبَارَكَ
الَّذِي لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ... (الزخرف : ٨٥) “And blessed be He unto Whom
belongeth (لَهُ) the sovereignty of the heavens and the earth …” (Q. 43:85)
If
the third letter is also dropped from the word الله what remains is the letter hā’(ـه) which is pronounced
hū. This letter is a symbolic expression (إِشَارَة) to the Absolute Divine Secret, i.e., God’s Essence. The author
maintains that those who remember God (الذَّاكِرُوْن) repeat the word ـه [9] in their dhikr
(incessant repetition of certain words or formula in praise of God), when they
say Yā hū, yā hū,… yā man lā ya‘lamu man hū illā hū. These words are
written in Arabic يَا هُو، يَا هُو،
... يَا مَنْ لَا يَعْلَمُ مَنْ هُو إلّا هُو. The author makes his conclusion stating
that the name Allāh is perfect in its construction. It is a name that denotes the intended
meaning, namely, God, either in its complete structure or in its separate one.[10]
Mah.mūd points
out the significance of the word Allāh for the s.ūfīs
in their dhikr. He states that the dhākir (the person who
remembers God through dhikr) starts his dhikr with his tongue,
then with his heart sincerely and confidently. Finally, the dhākir will reach the
stage where he is unconscious about himself or anything else but God. He will
feel that there is no real existence but God Himself. This state is what the s.ūfīs call
مَعْرِفَة (ma‘rifah, gnosis, cognition). The
author quotes the definition of مَعْرِفَة according to the Sufi Ibn ‘At.ā’ Allāh al-Sikandarī[11]
as follows: “Ma‘rifah is viewing(رُؤْيَة) without knowledge (عِلْم), substance (عَيْن) without
information (خَبَر) ,vision (مُشَاهَدَة) without description (وَصْف) , unveiling
(كَشْف) without veil (حِجَاب), feeling (إحْسَاس) without dispute (مُجَادَلَة) .”[12]
Therefore, the author contends, it is not fire that burns, but Allah; it is not
water that quench the thirst, but Allah. If He will He can make fire cold and
not harmful like the fire into which the Prophet Abraham was thrown. The fire
did not harm him. It was Prophet Abraham who said, as mentioned in the Qur’ān, وَالَّذِي هُوَ يُطْعِمُنِي
وَيَسْقِينِ. وَإِذَا مَرِضْتُ فَهُوَ يَشْفِينِ (الشعراء : ٧٩-٨٠)
“And Who feedeth me and watereth me. And when I
sicken, then He healeth me.” (Q. 26:79-80).[13]
The author states that everything
prostrates itself to Allah willingly or unwillingly. The Qur’ān says: وَلِلَّهِ يَسْجُدُ مَنْ فِي
السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ طَوْعًا وَكَرْهًا وَظِلَالُهُمْ بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالْآَصَالِ (الرعد : ١٥) “And unto Allah falleth
prostrate whosoever in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, as
do their shadows in the morning and the evening hours.” (Q. 13:15).”[14] This is because, the author contends, that
everything is subject to the laws of nature created by God. Thus, both the heart of a believer and that
of an unbeliever obey the physical laws of God’s creation. Both of them throb
according to this law. Even the cells of
the body are subject to this law.[15]
With regard to the first article of
the essential Muslim creed, i.e., the doctrinal formula لا إلهَ إلاَّ الله“there is no god but Allah”, the author stress its
importance. It is so important that he
deals with it in two of his works: حِوَار , (pp. 104-7) and الُقرْآن (pp. 202-17). He mentions the merits of this formula, as
follows:
1.
It was revealed to the
Prophet. It was the first and the most important news coming from heaven. It is
the essence (قَلْب) of the Qur’ān, Islam, and
every faith (كُلُّ اْلعَقَائِد). He bases his view on two
Qur’ānic verses and one h.adīth as
follows: فَاعْلَمْ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ
وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لِذَنْبِكَ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَات... (محمد : ١٩) ِ “So know (O
Muhammad) that there is no God save Allah, and ask forgiveness for thy sin and
for believing men and believing women…” (Q. 47:19). يُنَزِّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةَ
بِالرُّوحِ مِنْ أَمْرِهِ عَلَى مَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ أَنْ أَنْذِرُوا أَنَّهُ
لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاتَّقُونِ (النحل : ٢). “He
sendeth down the angels with the Spirit of His command unto whom He will of His
bondmen, (saying), Warn mankind that there is no God save Me, so keep your duty
unto Me.” (Q. 16:2). The Prophet said: “The best thing I have brought as
well as prophets did before me, is the formula: There is n o god but Allah.”[16]
2.
It is the كَلِمَةُ التَّقْوَى (the word
expressing piety). It is the angels’ tasbīh. (glorification of God). It is the كَلِمَةُ النَّجَاة (the word which
leads to salvation) for a dying person, and a formula that is mentioned ten
times a day during the five daily-prayers. The author supports his view with
the following Qur’ānic verse and a h.adīth qudsī (a
h.adīth in which God Himself speaks,
as opposed to h.adīth nabawī,
an ordinary Prophetic tradition); ... فَأَنْزَلَ
اللَّهُ سَكِينَتَهُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ وَعَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَأَلْزَمَهُمْ كَلِمَةَ التَّقْوَى
وَكَانُوا أَحَقَّ بِهَا وَأَهْلَهَا وَكَانَ اللَّهُ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمًا (الفتح : ٢٦) “… then Allah sent
down His peace of reassurance upon His messenger and upon the believers and
imposed on them the word of self-restraint, for they were worthy of it and meet
for it. And Allah is Aware of all things.” (Q. 48:26) “‘There is no
god but Allah’ is My protection (حِصْنِي). Whoever says it
will enter My protection, and whoever enters My protection will be safe from My
punishment.” [17]
With
regard to God’s Most Beautiful Names (الأسْمَاءُ
الْحُسْنَى), which also indicate His attributes, among the ninety-nine
names[18]
mentioned in the Qur’ān, some of them are applicable to man. A man can also
be generous, merciful, and so on, but cannot be Allah. This is because Allah is the name of God’s
Essence, while other names are the names of His divine attributes.[19]
However, the author contends that although man shares some of God’s attributes,
man’s attributes are limited, while those of God are unlimited. Man can be generous, but his generosity is
limited to what Allah has given him, while Allah’s generosity is unlimited to
unlimited crenatures.[20]
Among the attributes of God dealt with
in Mah.mūd’s works are الصَّمَد (al-S.amad, the
Impenetrable). He is absolute صَامِد (withstand), while others than He are مُضْطَرِب
(weak). Therefore, He is the only One Whom people take refuge;[21]
السَّلام (al-Salām,
Peace), i.e., there is no war or conflict with Him, because war occurs
between two sides, while God is only One;[22]
اللَّطِيْف (al-Lat.īf, the Subtle), He is absolutely
subtle. Therefore, He penetrates
everything with His absolute presence.
He says about Himself in the Qur’an: لَا تُدْرِكُهُ الْأَبْصَارُ
وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ الْأَبْصَارَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ (الأنعام : ١٠٣) “Vision
comprehendeth Him not, but He comprehendeth vision.” (Q. 6:104). He is
always with us in absolute nearness, like our pupil that we cannot see due to
its closeness to us. He is closer to us than our jugular vein (Q. 50:16);[23]
الوَاحِد
(al-Wāh.id, the one God); He alone Who
helps us and harm us; it is He Who puts poison in the scorpion and puts
fragrance in the flower;[24]
الحَيُّ اْلقَيُّوْم (al-H...ayy al-Qayyūm, the Living, the
Self-Subsisting); He does not depend on anything for His life, while everything
depends on Him;[25] الشَّكُوْر (al-Shakūr,
the Very Grateful); He rewards good deeds with ten times of merit;[26]
الصَّبُوْر (al-S.abūr, the Very Patient); He is
patient with His servants. He gives them
sustenance and life, while they deny Him;[27]
الْمَلِك (al-Malik,
the King); He is the absolute king of every existence. He rules everything with His laws, from an
atom to a galaxy. Man is a small king;
his soldiers are: his passion, anger, and desire; his people are: his tongue,
eyes and hands; he is a king as long as he is obeyed by them;[28]
الْمُتَعَالِي (al-Muta‘ālī,
the Very High, the Exalted); He exalts His creatures; the relationship
between God and His creatures is neither حُلُوْل (h.ulūl,
incarnation)) nor إتِّحَاد (ittih.ād,
union), but rather قُرْب (closeness) or بُعْد (farness).
The farness occurs only on man’s side when he neglects Him and keeps
himself busy with something else. On the other hand, he is close to Him when he
keeps himself busy with Him;[29]
اْلعَدْل (al-‘Adl, the Just; the occurrence
of justice cannot be imagined except with and from God Himself, because He
encompasses everything with His knowledge. Any worldly disaster has goodness in
it, because that disaster is a work of mercy and justice. Cursing with the occurrence of misfortune is
a childish attitude. The author says
that there are many handicapped persons who are endowed with special gift and
ability. Moreover, some diseases create trace
in the body of the infected one. The body secretes a kind of substance to
defend itself against a certain disease after it has been infected by it.[30]
CONCLUSION
The author throughout his books shows his
firm belief in the existence of God and the truth of Islam. His language is simple and clear. He uses, to a great extent, poetic diction.
However, his books lack reference. The
only reference is the Qur’ān where the locations
of every verse referred to by him is mentioned.
The h.adīths quoted
by him have no narrator, so that we do not know how strong they are in their
validity.
Another
shortcoming of the author is that he does not stick to the topic he is dealing
with. For example, he deals with the Most Beautiful Names of God in his book الْقُرْآن where we expect to find the ninety-nine names of God. But we find only
a few of them, and then the author moves slowly to the Sufi concept of knowing
God and his (the sūfī’s) relationship with Him.
The same topic is dealt more in detail in his book الله
. However, these shortcomings are
understandable and tolerated, since the author’s works are intended to be read
by laymen.
The
author’s tendency towards Sufism in his works is obvious. He gives us his esoteric interpretation and
analysis about the word الله. He states that the first letter, i.e., alif is
the origin of all letters. This is because the letter alif is the only
one written in a straight line. He does
not tell us that the origin of the word الله is الإله which literally means “the god”, and that
the first two letters indicate the definite article “the”.
It is
true that the author does not try to solve the problem of the material world,
but rather the spiritual and metaphysical one. He is concerned with trying to
convince his readers that in spite of the existence of injustice, disasters,
and any kind of disorder on this planet of ours, there is God whose wisdom and
knowledge encompass everything and are beyond human apprehension. He urges his
readers to return to God and to worship Him instead of denying Him. However, he denounces the possibility of
union with God claimed by some s.ūfīs. He contends that the only relationship
between man and God is closeness or farness. God is always close to man, but it
is man who keeps himself far away from God.
ENDNOTES
[1]Mus.t.afā Mah.mūd, الْوُجُوْدُ وَ اْلعَدَم (القاهرة: دار المعارف، ١٩٧٦),
pp. 45-46. The author relates that the Sufi al-Amīr al-H...asan
b. Makhzūn al-Sanjārī who lived in the beginning of the 7th century
A.H. advised people to beat hard any insane sūfī who claimed to be God, and if
the s.ūfī protested, that indicated the
falsehood of his claim. Ibid. p. 47.
[3] Ibid., p. 56. The Egyptian s.ūfī Ibn al-Fārid. (d. 632/1235) had already given this example
when he said in his ode entitled نُظُمُ السُّلُوْك
(the Poem of the Way), couplet no. 660 and 661 as follows:
وَ شَاهِدْ إذَا اسْتَجْلَيْتَ نَفْسَكَ مَا تَرَى
* بِغَيْرِ مِرَاءٍ فِي الْمَرَائِي الصَّقِيْلَةَ
أَغَيِرُكَ فِيْهـا لاَحَ أَمْ أنَتْ َنـَاظِرُ * إلَِيْكَ
بِهَا عِنْدَ اْنعِكَاسِ اْلأَشِعَّـةِ
“And
wouldst thou have thy soul unveil herself, contemplate what thou seest without
doubt in the burnished mirror, was it another that appeared in them? Or bids
thou behold thyself by means of them when the rays were refracted?”
See Mah.mūd Tawfīq (ed.) دِيْوَانُ ابْنِ الْفَارِض. (القاهرة: مطبعة محمود توفيق، ١٩٤٥) , p. 62, line 10-11; R.A. Nicholson, Studies of
Islamic Mysticism (Cambridge: The University Press, 1921), p. 258.
[4] Mus.t.afā Mah.mūd,
حِوَارُ مَعَ صَدِيْقِي اْلمُلْحِد. الطبعة الأولى. (بيروت :دار العودة ،١٩٧٤) , pp. 7-8.
[5]Idem. الله. الطبعة
الأولى. (بيروت : دار العودة ،١٩٧٢), pp. 110-14; see also idem, حِوَار, pp. 20-23.
[8]Qur’an, 31:26. The translation is rendered by M.M.
Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (New
York and Scarborough : George
Allen and Unwin Ltd., n.d.). Reference to Qur’ānic verses and translation
relating to them in other places in this paper are also his. See also Qur’an,
3:109, 129; 4:126, 131.
[9]Here the letter ـه is turned
by the author into the word هُوَ that means
“he” and is referred by him to God. This word can be pronounced huwa as
well as hū. The author chooses the
latter to support his view.
[11] Tāj al-Dīn Abū ’l-Fad.l Ah.mad ibn Muh.ammad
b. ‘Abd al-Karīm Ibn ‘At.ā’ Allāh (d. 709/1309) was an Egyptian s.ūfī of the Shādhiliyyah order. He was
one of the adversaries of Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728/1328) of the H...anbalī school. See G. Makdisi, “Ibn ‘Atā’ Allāh,” E.I.2
[12] Mahmūd, الله
, pp. 42-43. The author does not give us any reference to the works of Ibn ‘Atā’ Allāh. This
definition of ma‘rifah has not been found in Ibn ‘Atā’ Allāh’s al-H... ikam ,
his only available work at the Library of the Institute (of Islamic Studies, McGill University
[13]Ibid., p.
43. The author contends that a true s.ūfī considers
working as obedience and a devotion to God; he is not lazy, he does not keep
silent on the occurrence of injustice. الله
, p. 44.
Sufism does not call for invalidation of reason and the glorification of
poverty, beggary, and wearing rag, because they are deviation from Islam. Islam
glorifies purity and exhorts people to work.
The Prophet said in a h.adīth: “If
poverty were a man I would have killed him.” Ibid., p. 55.
[14]Another Qur’ānic verse referred to by the author is: أَفَغَيْرَ دِينِ اللَّهِ
يَبْغُونَ وَلَهُ أَسْلَمَ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ طَوْعًا وَكَرْهًا وَإِلَيْهِ
يُرْجَعُونَ (آل عمران : ٨٣) “Seek they other than the religion of Allah, when unto
Him submitteth whosoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly, or
unwillingly, and unto Him they will be returned.” (Q. 3:83).
[15] Everything is subject to the laws of nature. Among these laws are: Law of Surface Tension (قَانُوْنُ التَّوَتُّرِ
السَّطْحِي) , Law of Rejection of
Vacuum, (قَانُوْنُ
رَفْضِ الْفَرَاغ) , and Law of Action and Reaction (قَانُوْنُ اْلفِعْلِ وَ رَدِّ الْفِعْل) , see Mah.mūd, القُرْآنُ : مُحَاوَلَةُ لِفَهْمٍ عَصْرِيّ. الطبعة الخامسة (بيروت و القاهرة : دار الشروق: ١٣٩٤١٩٧٤/), pp. 116-117.
[18] L. Gardet mistakenly included Allah in the 99
names instead of الْمُعْطِيْ (the Giver). See “al-Asmā’ al-H...usnā,” E.I. 2. Should the name الْمُعْطِيْ also be excluded, then the name ذُوْ الجَلالَ وَ الإكْرَام (the Lord of Majesty and
Generosity) is considered two names.
[19] Mah.mūd, القُرْآنُ p. 125. See
also Muh.ammad ‘Abduh, رِسَالَةُ التَّوْحِيد. الطبعة الأولى. (القاهرة: مطبعة الخيرية, ١٣٢٤ هـ) ,
p. 7. According to the Ismā‘iliyyah, the
esoteric movement among the Shī‘ah which appeared in the second/eighth century,
actual affirmation of Allah’s attributes, like Existence, Knowing, and so on,
leads to tashbīh (anthropomorphization of Allah). This is because these
attributes were share by other existing things.
Therefore, the Ismā‘ilīs which were also called the Bātinīs, i.e.,
seekers of the inner or spiritual meaning of the nas.s. (divine texts), asserted that Allah is neither
existent nor non-existent, neither knowing nor ignorant, but rather between the
two. See Abū ’l-Fath. ‘Abd al-Karīm al-Shahrastānī, ,كِتَابُ اْلمِلَلَ وَ النِّحَل (in the margin of Ibn H...azm’s
كِتَابُ الْفَصْلِ فِي اْلِملِلِ وِ الأَهْوَاءِ وَ النِّحَل , 3 vols (بغداد: مكتبة المثنى؛ ممصر :
مؤسسة الخانجي ، بدون تاريخ)., vol. 2,
p. 29. According to Ibn H...azm (d.
456/1064) the Most Beautiful Names of God are not His attributes, because neither God, nor the Prophet, not
even his companions had ever called them God’s attributes. The term “God’s
attributes” according to Ibn H...azm was the
invention of the Mu‘tazilīs and the Rāfid.īs. See Ibn H...azm’s الْفَصْل ِ , vol. 2, pp. 120-121 and 150.
The s.ūfī H...asan
Ibn Makzūn considered the divine attributes to be applicable to the divine
names, not the divine essence. See Mah.mūd, الْوُجُوْدُ وَ اْلعَدَم (, pp.
445-451.
[21] Ibid., p. 9. According to L. Gardet الصَّمَد has five meanings: 1) the Master, He Who reigns; 2) close to الحَلِيْم (the
Forbearing) whom the acts of His adversaries neither trouble nor move (negative
attribute); 3) the Very High in Dignity; 4) He to whom one prays and
supplicates (attribute of relation); 5) in whom there is no “hollow”, negation
of all mixture and of all possible division into parts, see “al-Asmā’ al-H...usnā,” p.
716.
[22] Mah.mūd, القُرْآنُ
p. 214. L. Gardet gives us three meanings of السَّلام: 1) possessor of flawless peace (negative
attribute); 2) giver of peace and salvation at the beginning of the creation
and at the time of resurrection (active attribute); 3) will pronounce the
benediction of peace over his creature (attribute of speech), see “al-Asmā’ al-H...usnā,”, p. 715.
[24]Ibid, p. 19.
L. Gardet gives the distinction between al-Ah.ad and al-Wāh.id. Al-Ah.ad means “the
One by Essence, absolute simplicity of the Essence, insuperability and
inimitability of the divine attributes.,” while al-Wāh.id
means “the One God, there is no other God.” See “al-Asmā’ al-H...usnā,”, p. 716.
[29] In rejecting the possibility of حُلُوْل (incarnation) and إتِّحَاد (union)
between God and His creatures the author gives us two examples: a) Fire gives
its quality (i.e., heat) to water if the water is put near the fire, but
there is no حُلُوْل between the two elements; b) The image of the
sun appears on the surface of a clear and clean brook without the occurrence of
حُلُوْل of the sun
on it. Ibid., pp. 34-35; see also above, p. 2.
[30]For further details, see ibid., pp. 36-38.
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