Peace be upon you. Thank you for your brief reply, dear teacher, but I’m not convinced. Why must there be two successive acts of willing for an action to occur? Please explain it more simply. احرکم عندالله
#Answer 3331
I did not say that two successive acts of will are involved in bringing an act to pass. What I said was this:
والعلم متقدم على المشيئه والمشيئه ثانيه والإراده ثالثه والتقدير واقع على القضاء بالإمضاء
1) Knowledge 2) Willing (mashīʾa) 3) Intention (irāda) 4) Determination 5) Decree 6) Ratification
There are no equivalents for *mashīʾa* and *irāda* in other languages. With *mashīʾa*, we have to say that the Creator willed; with *irāda*, we can simply say that He intended. We must become familiar with their meanings inwardly through the attributes of *mashīʾa* and *irāda*.
Knowledge precedes existence. Things did not yet exist, but they were known (the use of “were” is unavoidable). At the stage of *mashīʾa*, before things appear, their attributes and limits are introduced. In other words, things pass from being known in God’s knowledge to becoming objects of knowledge: knowledge takes on the form of recognition so that they may be known. A thing comes into existence after it has become an object of knowledge. At the stage of *irāda*, things pass from unity to separation and distinction, from being joined to being divided, from undifferentiated solidity to elaboration.
In *mashīʾa*, beginning and end coincide; in *irāda*, beginning and end are elaborated and distinguished.
In *mashīʾa*, colours and parts are unified; in *irāda*, they are separated.
عن أبی عبد الله ع قال: خلق الله المشیئه بنفسها ثم خلق الأشیاء بالمشیئه.
الکافی (ط – الإسلامیه)، ج1، ص: 109
God created *mashīʾa* by His own willing—there was no intermediary in its creation—and then created things through *mashīʾa*.
عن أبی عبد الله ع قال: المشیئه محدثه.
الکافی (ط – الإسلامیه)، ج1، ص: 110
عن معلى بن محمد قال: سئل العالم ع کیف علم الله قال علم و شاء و أراد و قدر و قضى و أمضى فأمضى ما قضى و قضى ما قدر و قدر ما أراد فبعلمه کانت المشیئه و بمشیئته کانت الإراده و بإرادته کان التقدیر و بتقدیره کان القضاء و بقضائه کان الإمضاء و العلم متقدم على المشیئه و المشیئه ثانیه و الإراده ثالثه و التقدیر واقع على القضاء بالإمضاء فلله تبارک و تعالى البداء فیما علم متى شاء و فیما أراد لتقدیر الأشیاء فإذا وقع القضاء بالإمضاء فلا بداء فالعلم فی المعلوم قبل کونه و المشیئه فی المنشإ قبل عینه و الإراده فی المراد قبل قیامه و التقدیر لهذه المعلومات قبل تفصیلها و توصیلها عیانا و وقتا و القضاء بالإمضاء هو المبرم من المفعولات ذوات الأجسام المدرکات بالحواس من ذوی لون و ریح و وزن و کیل و ما دب و درج من إنس و جن و طیر و سباع و غیر ذلک مما یدرک بالحواس فلله تبارک و تعالى فیه البداء مما لا عین له فإذا وقع العین المفهوم المدرک فلا بداء و الله یفعل ما یشاء* فبالعلم علم الأشیاء قبل کونها و بالمشیئه عرف صفاتها و حدودها و أنشأها قبل إظهارها و بالإراده میز أنفسها فی ألوانها و صفاتها و بالتقدیر قدر أقواتها و عرف أولها و آخرها و بالقضاء أبان للناس أماکنها و دلهم علیها و بالإمضاء شرح عللها و أبان أمرها و ذلک تقدیر العزیز العلیم*.
الکافی (ط – الإسلامیه)، ج1، ص: 148
The Imam was asked, “How does God know?” He replied: “He knows, wills, intends, determines, decrees and ratifies. He ratifies what He has decreed, decrees what He has determined, and determines what He has intended. Thus, from His knowledge comes *mashīʾa*; from His *mashīʾa*, *irāda*; from His *irāda*, determination; from His determination, decree; and from His decree, ratification. Knowledge precedes *mashīʾa*; *mashīʾa* is second, and *irāda* third. Determination takes place in relation to decree through ratification.
“God, Blessed and Exalted, may alter what He knows whenever He wills, and what He intends, in order to determine things. But once a decree has been ratified, there can be no alteration. Knowledge concerns the thing known before it comes to be; *mashīʾa* concerns what is brought into being before it has an outward existence; *irāda* concerns what is intended before it takes form; and determination concerns these known things before they are differentiated and joined together in concrete existence, with their particular times.
“Decree through ratification concerns the definite acts of creation that have bodies and are perceived by the senses: things with colour, smell, weight or measure, and all that moves and stirs, such as human beings, jinn, birds, beasts of prey, and other things perceived by the senses. God, Blessed and Exalted, may alter what has no outward existence. But once an intelligible, perceptible thing has come into outward existence, there can be no alteration. God does whatever He wills.
“Through His knowledge, He knew all things before they came to be. Through His *mashīʾa*, He knew their attributes and limits and brought them into being before making them manifest. Through His *irāda*, He distinguished them by their colours and attributes. Through determination, He apportioned their sustenance and knew their beginning and end. Through decree, He made their places known to people and guided them to them. Through ratification, He explained their causes and made their affairs clear. Such is the determination of the Almighty, the All-Knowing.”
أصول الکافی / ترجمه مصطفوى، ج1، ص: 204
*Mashīʾa* means beginning. Without a beginning, there could be no movement, growth or creation—and no end either. He is the One who both initiates and brings things to an end. If He did not appoint an end, no created thing would experience ending and death.
Every created thing is a collection of beginnings and ends. If God, the Most High, did not will a new beginning after each phenomenon came to an end, the created thing would cease to exist. The first unit, from beginning to end, is not of the nature of time and has no connection to it; nor does its occurrence or realization lie within the domain of space. A thing exists in every instant of life, yet neither in time nor in space; grasping this lies beyond the reach of human thought and imagination.
Every created thing exists, yet the scope of its existence is zero, for that single unit, that indivisible part, has neither time nor length, width, nor height. What alone is real is His will—and that is all. What we perceive as creation is, in truth, a perception of His will and His decrees.
**Will: the first remembrance**
Knowledge is the light of God.
المشیئه هی الذکر الأول
Will is the first radiance of God’s light, the first rising, manifestation and self-disclosure of the light of God’s knowledge.
When God’s light appears, beauty reveals itself.
Will is the seedling of knowledge, springing from the very heart of God’s knowledge.
Will is the first unveiling of the beauty of God’s knowledge.
**Intention**
الإراده هی العزیمه على ما یشاء
Intention is the second radiance of God’s light, the second rising, manifestation and self-disclosure of the light of God’s knowledge.
It is when God’s will appears and reveals its beauty.
God’s intention is the seedling of His will, springing from the very heart of that will.
God’s intention is the second unveiling of the beauty of knowledge—or, in other words, the unveiling of the beauty of God’s will.
In simple terms, this is an explanation of Supplication 33, beneath the university of istikhara!
Eternity’s dawn smiled, and Husayn’s beauty appeared
May creation’s sweetest smile be blessed!