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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Theological Instructions LESSON NINE: ATTRIBUTES OF ESSENCE Introduction God is the primal cause and the Bestower of existence. He contains the utmost perfection and is responsible for all the perfection that we witness in existence, without any deprivation from His essence. This can be compared for example to a teacher who teaches his students from knowledge he has without losing any of it.

However the ontological perfections of Almighty God are superior to the example compared. A more accurate description would be to say that creation is nothing but the manifestation and dissipation of the sacred essence of God. The Qur’an has mentioned: “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth”. (al-Nūr:35) As God’s perfection is eternal, then every concept that holds perfection without representing any deficiency or limitation can be true for God as well.

Furthermore in the verses of the Holy Qur’an, the sacred narrations and the supplications of the Infallible Ones (ma’sumīn) (a), concepts like Light (nūr), Perfection (kamāl), Beauty (jamāl), Love (hubb), and Bliss (bahjah) etc are all related to Him. The books of philosophy and theology have categorised the attributes of God into two groups (attributes of essence and attributes of action).

We will provide a brief explanation of these two groups, followed by a discussion and proofs for establishing the most important one.

Attributes of essence and attributes of action Attributes related to God the Supreme, are either concepts which are abstracted from the divine essence by focusing on a kind of ontological perfection, such as life, knowledge, and power or they are concepts abstracted from a kind of relationship that exists between God and His creatures, such as being the Creator, and Sustainer. The first group of concepts is called the attributes of essence and the second group is called the attributes of action.

The essential difference between these two groups of concepts is that the first group concerns the qualities of the sacred divine essence, whereas the second group relates the relationship and connection between God and His creatures. These attributes are additional concepts abstracted from the relationship between God and His creatures. Such concepts abstracted from the creature’s dependence on the Creator are: the Creator, the Sustainer and the Originator.

The most important attributes of the essence of God are Life, Knowledge and Power.