ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Al-Ilahiyyat Volume 1 Life Scholars of divinities have agreed that life is one of His Attributes, and that “al-Hayy”, the Living, is one of His Names, the most Praised One. But applying this name to Him, Glory to Him, depends on how much one understands this “life”, and how it can be applied to the One Who brought forth existence.

We say that undoubtedly, every human being makes a distinction between the living existent and the non-living (dead) existent, realizing that life is the opposite of death. Yet, despite this general knowledge, nobody can realize the truth about life in living existents. Life is the most obvious of conditions, yet it is the most difficult to comprehend, the most complex to define. For this reason, scholars’ opinions about explaining its reality have differed, and they have gone sundry ways.

Yet according to the opinion of sciences of nature, the following conditions are part of what they describe: Attracting and Thrusting Growing and Maturing Reproducing and Multiplying Acting and Reacting This definition of life points out to life’s effects, it does not explain its reality. These are effects shared by living members. Despite all of this, we see the vast distance between plant life and human life.

The living plant includes the above-stated four characteristics, but life in animals adds to them sense and feeling, and this additional perfection, which is represented in sensing and feeling, does not make animals a testimony that differs from life. Rather, it renders it a more perfecting testimony for it.

Also, there is a life that is higher and more honorable which is: In addition to the five characteristics, the living being has the attribute of the sense of knowledge, reason and logic.[^1] Thereupon, the four characteristics make up a measure common among all levels of nature even though each level has its own qualities that distinguish it from others. It must be known that naturalists have stated this definition.

They were satisfied with it because they had no goal other than pointing out to the life that falls within the scope of their researches. As for the life that exists outside the world of nature, it was not submitted to them as they were busy researching nature. Defining Life in Another Way Undoubtedly, plant life is different from animal life. So are all high levels of life. But this does not render this word, life, a common term having multiple meanings.