Theology and Creed

Simply entering Hell does not mean that they are being punished. The idols worshipped by the polytheists fall into two categories: first, those that were content to be worshipped, such as stone idols or people like Pharaoh; and second, those that were not content to be worshipped. The first category will be punished alongside their worshippers, while the second will not be punished.

The divinely revealed religion is the accepted way to draw near to God, and departing from it is a turning away from servitude to Him. There is one path to God: the straight path He has laid out. Boasting about one’s acts of worship is ostentation and shirk, but that does not mean the Creator is indifferent to worship. A true lover of God is one who remains devoted to obeying the Beloved.

Attributes such as anger and pleasure, when ascribed to God, are attributes of His action—not states that cause Him to pass from one condition to another, for He is One and self-sufficient. God’s special mercy extends only to the believers; the disbelievers are excluded from it. Yet He is also the severest in punishment, and His anger is His punishment.

A hadith from Imam Ali (AS) identifies three kinds of sin: a forgivable sin for which one has already been punished in this world, since God does not punish twice; an unforgivable sin that involves wronging others and will be settled on the Day of Resurrection; and a sin that God has concealed, for which forgiveness may be hoped through repentance and trust in God. Associating partners with God is an unforgivable sin.

God created all beings from a single source, in accordance with His divine wisdom. The creation of humanity began with clay; then, endowed with free will, creation unfolded in its diversity. Verses 45 of Sura al-Nur and 7 of Sura al-Sajda refer to the creation of living beings from water and the beginning of humanity’s creation from clay.

This is a critique of the claim that no created being can be the reality of the Most Beautiful Names. The argument is that if all created beings are manifestations or effects of the divine Names, then their first outpouring and effect—the one most closely connected to the divine Names—is identical with the Names themselves. The differences emerge at the successive levels of descent.

From an Islamic perspective, Darwin’s theory of evolution is false. The development of living beings is shaped by choice, free will, and servitude to God, and may lead either to decline or to spiritual elevation. The metamorphosis of beings and transformations in their inner nature are of the same kind.

Beauty is found in both outward appearance and inward character, and every human being has an innate capacity to perceive its subtleties. The important point, however, is to understand them fully, which reveals deeper truths. Agreement among people about particular things does not establish what is truly beautiful; rather, it is the consensus of the wise, guided by their innate dispositions, that gives rise to the principles of beauty.