TREASURY OF BLESSED KNOWLEDGE

Hayat (life)

A Muslim must be sure that Almighty Allah ﷻ lives eternally, that He has no beginning or end and is not characterised by youth or old age. Time does not change Him and for Him time does not change. All the attributes of Allah ﷻ, like Himself, are eternal.

‘Ilm (knowledge)

It is necessary to be convinced that Allah ﷻ is omniscient. He initially knows everything about each creation even before it was created and what will happen to it after its creation. There is nothing that Almighty Allah ﷻ does not know or that His knowledge does not encompass.

Kalam (speech

It is necessary to know that Allah ﷻ has such a quality as speech but the speech of Allah ﷻ is not the same as that of His creations and is not transmitted through sounds and letters. If Holy Scriptures such as the Gospel (Injil), Torah (Taurat), Psalms (Zabur), the Quran and other writings imply that they are the speech of Allah ﷻ, then they are beginningless speech, without letters and without sounds. If we consider them as being Holy Scriptures sent down to the prophets in different languages by means of dubbing, then they are created. In other words, the speech of Almighty Allah ﷻ is uncreated and beginningless and it does not resemble the speech of His creations.

Sam’ (hearing)

One of the attributes of Almighty Allah ﷻ also includes hearing. The Creator ﷻ even hears an ant crawling over a stone.

Basar (vision)

Vision is also an attribute of Allah ﷻ. There is nothing in His creation that He does not see. That being said, the hearing and seeing of Allah ﷻ are not realized through the ears and eyes, like His creations, for the Almighty ﷻ is not like us. This explains that the knowledge of Allah ﷻ (‘ilm) encompasses everything and everyone.

The reason that these seven attributes are called "subuti" is that we also partake of them. How? According to the extent to which the Almighty ﷻ endowed His creation, each person has strength (kudra), will (irada), knowledge (‘ilm), speech (kalam), hearing (sam’) and vision (basar). However, they are genuine only in Almighty Allah ﷻ but in His creations are relative and transient; that is, they are not eternal. Strength, sight and hearing in old age are not the same as in youth, with age they gradually fade away, death comes to a person, his qualities cease to exist, that is, everything disappears. In relation to the Almighty ﷻ, these attributes are “subuti” - not disappearing and not decreasing or increasing but eternal. That is why they are called "subuti".

Further, among the 99 beautiful names of Allah ﷻ, there are five essential attributes about which it is also necessary to be convinced. They are called "salbi". These include:

Qidam (beginninglessness).
Baqa ’ (eternity).
Muhalafat-ul-havadis (incompa- rability).
Qiyamuhu binnafsi (self-sufficiency).
Wahdaniyya (the oneness of God)

Qidam (beginninglessness)

This attribute means the beginningless existence of the Almighty ﷻ. Allah ﷻ is One whose appearance has no beginning. However, this does not apply to His creations. Take the birth of a child, for example. The moment, hour, day and year of his birth are the beginning of life for him. Or, for example, when a city is being built or a building is being erected, the moment of completion of their construction will be the beginning of their functioning. The Almighty ﷻ has no such beginning. He is beginningless.

Baqa ’ (eternity; constancy)

The meaning of this attribute is that for the Almighty ﷻ there is no death, disappearance or destruction.

Allah ﷻ is eternal. Of everything that has been created by the Almighty ﷻ, there is nothing that would not be subject to death or destruction, except al-'Arsh [1], al-Kurs [2], Paradise (al-Janna), Hell (al Jahannam), the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawh ul-Mahfuz) [3], the Pen (al-Qalam) and the tailbone of a person (ajbu zanab). The soul (ar-rukh) also belongs to this category, according to the reliable word of Imam ash-Shafi-i. All these eight creations have been created by Almighty Allah ﷻ for permanent existence.

Muhalafat-ul-havadis (incomparability)

The Almighty ﷻ is not like any of His creations and nothing that He created is like Him. To liken God ﷻ to anything is unbelief. If someone tries to imagine the Almighty ﷻ, this will not correspond to reality.

The realization that we cannot know Allah ﷻ completely and fully is knowledge of Him. To lead a discussion about the essence of the Almighty ﷻ is polytheism (shirk). God ﷻ obliged people to cleanse their beliefs of imparting to the Almighty ﷻ qualities that are not inherent in Him.

Qiyamuhu bi-nnafsi (self-sufficiency)

Almighty Allah ﷻ is independent. This means that everyone needs Him, while He does not need anyone or anything.

Wahdaniyya (the oneness of God ﷻ)

The meaning of this attribute is that God ﷻ is one and that He has no partner. Knowledge about this belief in an accessible and sufficient form for us can be drawn from the book "Bustan Avaristan". Anyone who says the opposite of a given belief is mislead and misleads others. Never listen to people like that.

The five attributes listed are called "salbi" because they cleanse the idea of Allah ﷻ of qualities unusual for Him, cleanse from imparting to Him shortcomings and powerlessness.

For example, the opposite of the attribute "beginninglessness" (kidam) is a quality that means the beginning of something, and the opposite of the attribute "eternity" (baka') is a quality which means disappearance, end or death. Thus, these five attributes deny all qualities that are not inherent in Almighty Allah ﷻ.

Who is called by the words "ahlu-ssunna wa l-jama’a"?

The words "people of the Sunna and consensus of the community" refer to people who adhere to the path of truth. Sunna is the path established and indicated by the Prophet ﷺ. And those who follow this path are called "ahlu-ssunna". By the word "jama’a" [in this matter] we mean people who followed the decisions that all the companions of the Prophet ﷺ agreed with during the reign of the four righteous caliphs, Abu Bakr, ‘Umar, ‘Uthman and ‘Ali.

Consequently, the term "ahlu-ssunna wa-l-jama’a” includes those who, according to the Sunna of the Prophet ﷺ, adhere to the path followed by all the companions during the time of the four righteous caliphs.

Observance of the precepts of the Sharia is associated [both] with the deeds of the human body [and with its inner belief]. The deeds of the body include: performing prayer, zakat, fasting, hajj and knowing the obligation to fulfill them, as well as distinguishing between what is permitted (halal) and what is forbidden (haram). For example, to know that drinking alcohol, living on income from interest, etc., are forbidden, but the conduct of fair trade is allowed.

[1] al-‘Arsh is the greatest creation of Allah, created from Nur (light).

{2] al-Kurs is the largest creation of Allah after al-‘Arsh.

[3] al-Lawh al-Mahfuz ("The Preserved) Tablet") is the heavenly prototype of all the Holy Scriptures, which records everything that was on earth and will happen in the future.

TREASURY OF BLESSED KNOWLEDGE