Various and sometimes strange views have been narrated from the mutakallimīn ...

Various and sometimes strange views have been narrated from the mutakallimīn , some even denying God’s knowledge of His own sacred essence! The fact is that the divine essence in its very unity and simplicity is both the same as His knowledge of His own essence and knowledge of all creatures, including the immaterial and material ones.

Knowledge of Essence One who is aware of the incorporeality and immateriality of the divine essence can easily understand that His sacred essence is the same as His knowledge of Himself, just as is true for every independent immaterial (non-accidental) existent. If one has any doubt about the necessity of knowledge of one’s essence for all immaterial existents, in the case of God, the Supreme, the following argument can be employed.

Knowledge of essence is an ontological perfection which can be found in some existents, such as man, and God, the Supreme, possesses all ontological perfections infinitely; so He also possesses this one in its highest level. Anyway, the demonstration of God’s knowledge of His sacred essence on the basis of the principles of transcendent theosophy ( ḥikmat muta‘āliyah ) is an easy task.

Knowledge of Creatures The demonstration of knowledge of creatures, especially prior to their appearance, and its philosophical explanation is not so easy. In this regard there are various positions and views, the most important of which are the following: The position of the Peripatetics is based on the idea that knowledge of creatures is by means of intellectual forms, which are concomitants ( lawāzim ) of the divine essence.

This position has some notable problems, for, if these forms are assumed to be the same as the divine essence, this implies the existence of multiplicity in the simple divine essence. If they are external to the essence—as is understood from the expression lawāzim al-dhāt (concomitants of essence)—then they will be unavoidably the effects and creatures of God, the Supreme.

This implies that, aside from these intellectual forms, the divine existence at the station of His essence, does not possess knowledge of His creatures and He has created these forms without any knowledge! Moreover, the knowledge obtained through intellectual forms will be acquired knowledge. The establishment of such knowledge for God, the Supreme, would imply the establishment of a mind in the divine essence, while mind and acquired knowledge are specific to souls attached to matter.