۱۰ فروردین ۱۴۰۳ |۱۹ رمضان ۱۴۴۵ | Mar 29, 2024
The Divine Attributes

The attributes of God can be divided thus: (a) attributes of the Essence (sifat al-dhat), and (b) attributes of Activity (sifat al fi’l).

Hawzah News Agency (Qom, Iran)‌ - From another point of view, the attributes of God can be divided
thus: (a) attributes of the Essence (sifat al-dhat), and (b) attributes of Activity (sifat al fi’l). 


The attributes of the Essence are those which describe God in a manner that adequately enables us to form some kind of conception of His essential nature. These attributes are, so to speak, derived from the station of the Essence; attributes such as Knowledge, Power and Life.


As for the attributes of Activity, these pertain to the various kinds of action that emanate from God, actions by which He becomes described, such as creating, sustaining, forgiving, and the like. In other words, it is only in the measure that God actually
creates and sustains that He can be called Creator and Sustainer, however much His Essence may contain principially the power to create, sustain, forgive, and so on. 

 

To conclude this discussion, let us recall that all the active attributes of God spring from His Essence, and, in particular, from the perfections of His Essence; that is to say, God is the possessor of absolute perfection, which is the source of all the differentiated active perfections which He displays.

 

Reference:

 Ayatollah Jafar Sobhani, Doctrines of Shii Islam, A Compendium of Imami Beliefs and Practices, Translated and Edited by Reza Shah-Kazemi, published by I.B.Tauris Publishers, London • New york  2003

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