The Gateway of Knowledge of the City of Knowledge
– The Holy Prophet (S) had delivered 241 sermons collected in Nahjul Balagha.
He had referred to Allah’s attributes in the following sermons: sermon # 45, 49,
65, 85, 90, 94, 109, 133, 152, 160, 163, 179, 183, 185, 186, 191, 198, and 211.
His sermon #186 on Tauheed is reproduced below:
He, who
assigns to Him different conditions, does not believe in His oneness, nor does
he who likens Him grasp His reality. He who illustrates Him does not signify
Him. He who points at Him and imagines Him does not mean Him. Every thing that
is known through it has been created, and every thing that exists by virtue of
other things is the effect of a cause. He works but not with the help of
instruments. He fixes measures but not with the activity of thinking. He is
rich but not by acquisition.
Time does not keep company with Him, and implements do not
help Him. His being precedes time. His Existence precedes non-existence and His
eternity precedes beginning. By His creating the senses it is known that He has
no senses. By the contraries in various matters it is known that He has no
contrary, and by the similarity between things it is known that nothing is
similar to Him. He has made light the contrary of darkness, brightness that of
gloom, dryness that of moisture, and heat that of cold. He produces affection
among hostile things.
He fuses together diverse things, brings near remote things,
and separates things which are joined together. He is not confined by limits,
nor counted by numbers. Material parts can surround things of their own kind,
and organs can point out things similar to themselves. The word “munzu” (since)
disproves their eternity, the word “qad” (that denotes nearness of time of
occarence), disproves their being from ever and the word “lawla” (if it were not)
keep them remote from perfection.
Through them the Creator manifests Himself to the
intelligence, and through them He is guarded from the sight of the eyes.
Stillness and motion do not occur in Him, and how can that
thing occur in Him, who He has Himself made to occur, and how can a thing
revert to Him whom He first created, and how can a thing appear in Him which He
first brought to appearance. If it had not been so, His Self would have become
subject to diversity, His Being would have become divisible (into parts), and
His Reality would have been prevented from being deemed Eternal. If there was a
front to Him there would have been a rear also for Him. He would need
completing only if shortage befell Him. In that case signs of the created would
appear in Him, and He would become a sign (leading to other objects) instead of
signs leading to Him. Through the Might of His abstention (from affectedness)
He is far above being affected by things which affect others.
He is that which does not change or vanish. The process of
setting does not behoove Him. He has not begotten anyone lest He be regarded as
having been born. He has not been begotten otherwise He would be contained
within limits. He is too High to have sons. He is too purified to contact
women. Imagination cannot reach Him so as to assign Him quantity. Understanding
cannot think of Him so as to give Him shape. Senses do not perceive Him so as
to feel Him. Hands cannot touch Him so as to rub against Him. He does not
change into any condition. He does not pass from one state to another. Nights
and days do not turn Him old. Light and darkness do not alter Him.
It cannot be said that He has a limit or extremity, or end
or termination; nor do things control Him so as to raise Him or lower Him, nor
does anything carry Him so as to bend Him or keep Him erect. He is not inside
things or outside them. He conveys news but not with tongue or voice. He
listens, but not with the holes of the ears or the organs of hearing. He says,
but does not utter words. He remembers, but does not memorize. He determines,
but not exercising His mind. He loves and approves without sentimentality (of
hart). He hates and feels angry without any painstaking. When He intends to
create someone, He says “Be” and there he is, but not through a voice that
strikes (the ears) is that call heard. His speech is an act of His creation.
His like never existed before this. If had been eternal it would have been the
second god.
It cannot be said that He came into being after He had not
been in existence because in that case the attributes of the created things
would be assigned to Him and there would remain no difference them and Him, and
He would have no distinction over them. Thus, the Creator and the created would
become equal and the initiator and the initiated would be on the same level. He
created (the whole of) creation without any example made by someone else, and
He did not secure the assistance of any one out of His creation for creating
it.
He created the earth and suspended it without being busy,
retained it without support, made it stand without legs, raised it without
pillars, protected it against bending and curving and defended it against crumbling
and splitting (into parts). He fixed
mountains on it like stumps, solidified its rocks, caused its streams to flow
and opened wide its valleys. Whatever He made did not suffer from any flow, and
whatever He strengthened did not show any weakness.
He manifests Himself over the earth with His authority and
greatness. He is aware of its inside through His knowledge and understanding.
He has power over every thing in the earth by virtue of His Sublimity and
dignity. Nothing from the earth He may ask for defies Him, nor does it oppose
Him so as to overpower Him. No swift-footed creator can run away from Him so as
to surpass Him. He is not needy towards any possessing person so that he should
feed Him. All things bow to Him and are humble before His greatness. They
cannot flee away from His authority to some one else in order to escape His
benefit or His harm. There is no parallel for Him who may match Him and no one
like Him so as to equal Him.
He will destroy the earth after its existence, till all that
exist on it will become non-existent. But the extinction of the world after its
creation is no stranger than its first formation and invention. How could it
be? Even all the animals of the earth, whether birds or beasts, stabled cattle
or pasturing one, of different origins and species, dull people and sagacious
men—all jointly try to create (even) a mosquito they are not able to bring it
to being and do not understand what is the way to its creation. Their wits are
bewildered and wandering. Their powers fall short and fail, and return
disappointed and tired, knowing that they are defeated and admitting their
inability to produce it, also realizing they are too weak (even) to destroy it.
Surely, after the extinction of the world, Allah, the
Glorified, will remain alone with nothing else beside Him. He will be, after
its extinction, as He was before its production: without time or place or
moment or period. At this moment period and time will not exist, and years and
hours will disappear. There will be nothing except Allah, the One, and the
All-Powerful. To Him is the return of all matters. Its initial creation was not
in its power; and the prevention of its extinction was (also) not in its power.
If it had power to prevent it, it would have existed for ever. When He made
anything of the world, the making of it did not cause Him any difficulty, and
the creation of any thing which He created and formed did not fatigue Him. He
did not create it to heighten His authority nor for fear of loss or harm, nor
to seek its help against an over whelming foe, nor to guard against any
avenging opponent with its help, nor for the extension of His domain by its
help, nor for boasting (over largeness of His possession) against a partner,
nor because He felt lonely and desired to seek its company.
Then after its creation He will destroy it, but not because
any worry has overcome Him, in its upkeep and administration, nor for any
pleasure that will accrue to Him, nor for the cumbrousness of any thing over
Him. The length of its life does not weary Him so as to induce Him to its quick
destruction. But, Allah the Glorified has maintained it with His kindness, kept
it intact with His command and perfected it with His Power. Then, after its
destruction, He will resuscitate it, but not for any need of His own towards
it, nor to seek assistance of any of its things against it, nor to change over
the condition of loneliness to that of company, nor from the condition of
ignorance and blindness, to that of knowledge and search, nor from paucity and
need towards needless and plenty, nor from disgrace and lowliness towards honor
and prestige.
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