The Fourth Topic: The Generality of the Author's Statement Encompasses All Attributes by Which Allah Described Himself, Including the Essential, the Informational, and the Action Attributes.
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The Shaykh : The Fourth Topic: The Generality of the Author's Statement Encompasses All Attributes by Which Allah Described Himself, including the Necessary and the Occasional Attributes, the Conceptual Attributes, and the Informational Attributes. It encompasses all the Necessary Attributes by which He has always been and continues to be described, such as Life, Knowledge, Power, and Wisdom, and the like. These are Necessary Attributes by which He has always been and continues to be described. This is by way of example, not exhaustive.
So, Allah has always been Alive and continues to be Alive; He has always been All-Knowing and continues to be All-Knowing; He has always been All-Powerful and continues to be All-Powerful, and so on. This means that there is no Life in Him that is renewed, no Power in Him that is renewed, and no Hearing in Him that is renewed. Rather, He is described with these eternally and forever. The renewal of the heard does not necessitate the renewal of the Hearing. Does the heard renew? Yes, the heard renews. The known renews. Glorified and Exalted is He, He heard the adhan when the adhan occurred. But the Hearing does not renew. For example, when I hear the adhan now, does it mean that a new Hearing occurred for me when I heard the adhan? No, my Hearing has not ceased since Allah Mighty and Majestic created it in me. But the heard renews, and this has no effect on the Attribute.
The Necessary Attributes: The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) agreed to call them the Essential Attributes. Why? They said: Because they are inseparable from the Essence and do not separate from it.
Now, the Occasional Attributes are those that have causes associated with them, such as Satisfaction. The Satisfaction of Allah Mighty and Majestic: is this an Occasional Attribute or a Necessary Attribute? It is Occasional. When? When the cause of Satisfaction exists, He is Satisfied, as He the Exalted said:[Az-Zumar 39:7] Love is among the Occasional Attributes. Speech is Occasional in terms of its instances, but Necessary in terms of its essence, because Allah has always been and continues to be a Speaker. However, He speaks what He wills, when He wills, as will come in the discussion of Speech, if Allah wills. But we mention it now by way of example.
The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) agreed to call these Attributes the Action Attributes, the Attributes of Action. These are the Occasional Attributes, such as Satisfaction, Love, Dislike, Hatred, Rising above the Throne, Descending to the lowest heaven, and Coming to the judgment on the Day of Resurrection, and the like. These are called Action Attributes because they are from His actions, Glorified and Exalted is He. So they are Action Attributes that have evidence from the Qur'an? Yes, they have much evidence from the Qur'an:[Al-Fajr 89:22] Yes, [Al-An'am 6:158] [Al-Ma'idah 5:119] [At-Tawbah 9:46] [Al-Ma'idah 5:80] And their examples are many. These are called Action Attributes because they renew and occur according to their requirements. Now, is there any deficiency in Allah Mighty and Majestic in this? Absolutely not. This is part of His Perfection, that He is an Actor of what He wills. This is from Perfection.
And those people who distort say that this is a deficiency. Therefore, they deny all the Action Attributes. I seek refuge in Allah. They say He does not come, He is not Satisfied, He is not Angry, He does not dislike, He does not love. They deny all of this.
Now, the Informational Attributes are those that are established through the report. And everything established of the Attributes of Allah is through the report. But the names of these Attributes, for us, are parts and portions. Pay attention: the names of these Attributes, for us, are parts and portions. The Hand is a Conceptual Attribute? I ask you, is it Conceptual? No, it is not Conceptual, except for the people of distortion who say the Hand is the Will to do good, or the like, or Power. We say the Hand is an Informational Attribute because it is established through the report, not through the intellect. But its name, for us, is a part and a portion. So do we say it is a part of Allah or a portion of Allah? No. The people of the Sunnah and the community avoid this. They say it is not permissible to describe Allah as having a part or a portion, because this did not come in the Qur'an. We say He has a Hand with which He grasps and extends, that He has a Foot which He places on Hellfire, and you say "yes, yes," that He has an Eye with which He sees. Do you understand now? Now, what are these called in their terminology? The Informational Attributes. What is their criterion? They are those whose names, for us, are portions and parts. The Hand, the Foot, the Eye, the Face, yes, and the Shin as well. These are called Informational Attributes. Now, we said at the beginning: Necessary, Occasional, Conceptual, and Informational. The Conceptual ones fall under the Essential Attributes and the Action Attributes. For example, Satisfaction is Conceptual, and Hearing is Conceptual. But the Hand is not a Conceptual Attribute; rather, it is an Informational Attribute. Its counterpart for us—may Allah forgive me—we do not say its counterpart; its name, for us, is a portion and a part.
Now, these are four topics in his statement: "What He described Himself with".
So, Allah has always been Alive and continues to be Alive; He has always been All-Knowing and continues to be All-Knowing; He has always been All-Powerful and continues to be All-Powerful, and so on. This means that there is no Life in Him that is renewed, no Power in Him that is renewed, and no Hearing in Him that is renewed. Rather, He is described with these eternally and forever. The renewal of the heard does not necessitate the renewal of the Hearing. Does the heard renew? Yes, the heard renews. The known renews. Glorified and Exalted is He, He heard the adhan when the adhan occurred. But the Hearing does not renew. For example, when I hear the adhan now, does it mean that a new Hearing occurred for me when I heard the adhan? No, my Hearing has not ceased since Allah Mighty and Majestic created it in me. But the heard renews, and this has no effect on the Attribute.
The Necessary Attributes: The scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) agreed to call them the Essential Attributes. Why? They said: Because they are inseparable from the Essence and do not separate from it.
Now, the Occasional Attributes are those that have causes associated with them, such as Satisfaction. The Satisfaction of Allah Mighty and Majestic: is this an Occasional Attribute or a Necessary Attribute? It is Occasional. When? When the cause of Satisfaction exists, He is Satisfied, as He the Exalted said:
If you disbelieve - indeed, Allah is Free from need of you. And He does not approve for His servants disbelief. And if you are grateful, He approves it for you
إِنْ تَكْفُرُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ عَنْكُمْ وَلا يَرْضَى لِعِبَادِهِ الْكُفْرَ وَإِنْ تَشْكُرُوا يَرْضَهُ لَكُمْThe scholars (may Allah have mercy on them) agreed to call these Attributes the Action Attributes, the Attributes of Action. These are the Occasional Attributes, such as Satisfaction, Love, Dislike, Hatred, Rising above the Throne, Descending to the lowest heaven, and Coming to the judgment on the Day of Resurrection, and the like. These are called Action Attributes because they are from His actions, Glorified and Exalted is He. So they are Action Attributes that have evidence from the Qur'an? Yes, they have much evidence from the Qur'an:
And your Lord has come and the angels, rank upon rank,
وَجَاءَ رَبُّكَ وَالْمَلَكُ صَفّاً صَفّاًDo they [then] wait for anything except that the angels should come to them or your Lord should come
هَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا أَنْ تَأْتِيَهُمُ الْمَلائِكَةُ أَوْ يَأْتِيَ رَبُّكَAllah being pleased with them, and they with Him
رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُBut Allah disliked their being sent, so He kept them back
وَلَكِنْ كَرِهَ اللَّهُ انْبِعَاثَهُمْ فَثَبَّطَهُمْin that Allah has become angry with them, and in the punishment they will abide eternally.
أَنْ سَخِطَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَفِي الْعَذَابِ هُمْ خَالِدُونَAnd those people who distort say that this is a deficiency. Therefore, they deny all the Action Attributes. I seek refuge in Allah. They say He does not come, He is not Satisfied, He is not Angry, He does not dislike, He does not love. They deny all of this.
Now, the Informational Attributes are those that are established through the report. And everything established of the Attributes of Allah is through the report. But the names of these Attributes, for us, are parts and portions. Pay attention: the names of these Attributes, for us, are parts and portions. The Hand is a Conceptual Attribute? I ask you, is it Conceptual? No, it is not Conceptual, except for the people of distortion who say the Hand is the Will to do good, or the like, or Power. We say the Hand is an Informational Attribute because it is established through the report, not through the intellect. But its name, for us, is a part and a portion. So do we say it is a part of Allah or a portion of Allah? No. The people of the Sunnah and the community avoid this. They say it is not permissible to describe Allah as having a part or a portion, because this did not come in the Qur'an. We say He has a Hand with which He grasps and extends, that He has a Foot which He places on Hellfire, and you say "yes, yes," that He has an Eye with which He sees. Do you understand now? Now, what are these called in their terminology? The Informational Attributes. What is their criterion? They are those whose names, for us, are portions and parts. The Hand, the Foot, the Eye, the Face, yes, and the Shin as well. These are called Informational Attributes. Now, we said at the beginning: Necessary, Occasional, Conceptual, and Informational. The Conceptual ones fall under the Essential Attributes and the Action Attributes. For example, Satisfaction is Conceptual, and Hearing is Conceptual. But the Hand is not a Conceptual Attribute; rather, it is an Informational Attribute. Its counterpart for us—may Allah forgive me—we do not say its counterpart; its name, for us, is a portion and a part.
Now, these are four topics in his statement: "What He described Himself with".