Philosophy and Logic 31 August 2022 Reading time: 1 min

How does affirming that the Divine Attributes are identical with God’s Essence accord with tawḥīd?

Author: Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) • Soroush-e Bamdadan Cultural Center • Read 30 times

«Affirming that the Divine Attributes are identical with God’s Essence does not deny that God possesses those attributes. Rather, it emphasizes that His attributes are His very Essence and that He transcends every attribute. This concept is no contradiction to tawḥīd; it affirms God’s absolute transcendence.»

Question: How does affirming that the attributes of the Real, Exalted is He, are identical with His Essence conflict with divine oneness?

Negating the attributes from the Essence of the Real does not mean denying God’s ownership of the attributes. Rather, it denies that His Essence is identical with them and affirms His greatness above every attribute.

When we say that God is beautiful, we understand Him to possess beauty, just as He owns the universe. But just as His ownership of the universe does not mean that He is identical with it, His possession of beauty does not mean that He is identical with beauty. Rather, He transcends beauty and is too great to be described by it. In truth, beauty itself is a path to Him and a sign of nearness to Him.

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Master Ali Saei

(Abdullah Meshkat) Researcher and commentator on Shi‘i wisdom and the foundations of divine unity

A researcher specializing in religious studies and divine unity, with a particular focus on the Qur’an and Hadith (the Two Weighty Things). His research has centered primarily on the Qur’an and Hadith; in recent years, he has also explored divine unity and critiques of philosophical viewpoints.

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