Totality only applies to that which has individuals, so how do we say that the "al" in "life" is for totality?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : His speech is about life, and He is Life, so he said it is for induction.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Look, digressions naturally do not occur.
The Shaykh : except.
The questioner : Totality is that in which individuals are unified, and the individuals of deficient and empty life are not like that.
The Shaykh : Yes, correct.
The questioner : O my brother, goodness.
The Shaykh : The totality of perfect attributes, because part of the perfection of the Living One is that He possesses attributes. So the totality of life means the totality of life in the sense of perfect life that encompasses all perfect attributes. Thus, the totality of entities is not the totality of attributes. Yes, that is right.
The questioner : Meaning there are individuals in, in gambling.
The Shaykh : In meanings and perfection.
The questioner : Problems, huh? There is no hope.
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : For example. How are you?
The Shaykh : The question says that totality only applies to that which has individuals, like "He created man weak." Man means every man, and this has individuals, each one distinct from the other. The life of Allah the Exalted is not like that; Allah is One. So how do we say totality? We said in the answer that the totality of life is not the totality of the Living One. So the totality of life here is the totality of attributes, meaning that the life of Allah the Glorious and Exalted encompasses all the perfect attributes, which is a requirement of the perfection of life.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Look, digressions naturally do not occur.
The Shaykh : except.
The questioner : Totality is that in which individuals are unified, and the individuals of deficient and empty life are not like that.
The Shaykh : Yes, correct.
The questioner : O my brother, goodness.
The Shaykh : The totality of perfect attributes, because part of the perfection of the Living One is that He possesses attributes. So the totality of life means the totality of life in the sense of perfect life that encompasses all perfect attributes. Thus, the totality of entities is not the totality of attributes. Yes, that is right.
The questioner : Meaning there are individuals in, in gambling.
The Shaykh : In meanings and perfection.
The questioner : Problems, huh? There is no hope.
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : For example. How are you?
The Shaykh : The question says that totality only applies to that which has individuals, like "He created man weak." Man means every man, and this has individuals, each one distinct from the other. The life of Allah the Exalted is not like that; Allah is One. So how do we say totality? We said in the answer that the totality of life is not the totality of the Living One. So the totality of life here is the totality of attributes, meaning that the life of Allah the Glorious and Exalted encompasses all the perfect attributes, which is a requirement of the perfection of life.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، [702] الإستغراق إنما يكون لمن له أفراد فكيف نقول إن "أل" في الحياة للاستغراق؟ - ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.