The Mu‘tazilah and Imāmiyyah theologians who advocate this...

The Mu‘tazilah and Imāmiyyah theologians who advocate this view call this knowledge as dā‘ī (motive).[^7] The will of God is an attribute separate from His knowledge, power, and Attributes of Essence, and it is among the Essential and Eternal Attributes of God. This view is acceptable to the Ashā‘irah.[^8] The will of God is an Essential Attribute distinct from other Essential Attributes, and at the same time, it is contingent ( ḥādith ).

Its state is either contingent in essence as claimed by the Karrāmiyyah group,[^9] or contingent neither in essence nor other than essence ( ḥādith lā fī maḥall ) as described by Abū ‘Alī and Abū Hāshim.[^10] Irādah is one of the Attributes of the Divine Essence, but it has negative sense; that is, the agency ( fā‘iliyyah ) of God is not based on compulsion or forgetfulness (conscious and volitional).

This view has been adopted by Ḥusayn al-Najjār, a Mu‘tazilī theologian.[^11] The essence of irādah is exaltation ( ibtihāj ) and contentment ( riḍā’ ), and it is divided into two, viz. essential ( dhātī ) and active ( fi‘lī ) irādah : The essential exaltation and contentment is the essential will while the active exaltation and contentment is the active will ( irādah-ye fi‘lī ).

Since God is Pure ( ṣirf ) and Absolute ( maḥḍ ) Being, He is essentially elated ( mubtahij bi ’dh-dhāt ), and His Essence is being Self-contented (essential contentment ( riḍā’ bi ’dh-dhāt equals essential will ( irādah-ye dhātī )). Meanwhile, essential exaltation and contentment necessitates exaltation and contentment in the stage of action, for “Whoever loves something loves its effects” (that is, exaltation and contentment in the stage of action equals active will ( irādah-ye fi‘lī )).

Muḥaqqiq al-Iṣfahānī, better known as Kampānī,[^12] has subscribed to this view.[^13] Assessment of the Views The first view which has regarded irādah as only an Attribute of Action is consistent with some traditions transmitted from the pure Imāms ( ‘a ) about the Divine will and decree. We shall elaborate later. The second and third views have consensus in interpreting irādah to mean the eternal knowledge of God.

Yet, they also differ [in the detail]; in the second view, irādah is interpreted to mean knowledge of the best order while in the third view, it refers to knowledge of the exigency of the action.