Islamic Belief in Allah and His Attributes

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BELIEF IN ALLĀH  AND HIS ATTRIBUTES

  1. There is only one God: Allāh. He has no partner – neither in His Self,12 nor in His Attributes,13 nor in His Actions,
    nor in His Commands, nor in His Names. He is wājib al-wujūd, that is, His existence
    is necessary, and it is impossible for Him to be inexistent.14 He is Qadīm – which
    means, He has always existed, without a beginning.15 He is Bāqī – that is, He will exist
    forever without an end. He alone is worthy and deserving of being worshipped.
  2. He is Absolutely Independent [ghaniyy] and does not need anybody or anything;
    everything else is in need of Him.
  3. It is impossible to comprehend [or imagine] His Essence [dhāt], because anything that
    can be comprehended [or imagined] will be bounded by the intellect – and He is
    boundless; however, we can gain a general idea about His Attributes, by His Actions;
    then, knowledge of His Attributes leads one to attain gnosis about His Self.
  4. His Attributes are not His Self per se; nor are they separate or dissociated from Him.
    In other words, His Self and His Attributes are not the same thing; nor are His
    Attributes separate from His Self.
  5. Just as His Self [dhāt], His Attributes are also Pre-eternal; He exists without a
    beginning [azalī] and will exist forever [abadī].
  6. His Attributes are not His creation, nor subject to Divine Power.
  7. Everything is an accident, an occurrence [ĥādith], except for the Self [dhāt] and
    Attributes [şifāt] of Allāh .16

12 Dhāt, or His Self; also translated as ‘Essence’.
13 Şifāt or His Attributes. Plural of şifah/şifat. Description and categorisation of attributes is mentioned a little
further in the footnotes.
14 Ádam: inexistence – or non-existence or ceasing to exist.
15 Existed from Pre-eternity and without a beginning. Azalī also means the same.
16 Everything in creation ‘occurred’ and ‘came into existence’ when the Creator Willed it to exist; it was non
existent prior to this “coming into existence”; this is known as ĥudūth which means; ‘coming into existence,
from being non-existent [ádam]’. The Mútazilah say that mádūm is a ‘thing’, an ‘entity’ – shayy – and that all
things are established even before their coming into existence, but are hidden, similar to clothes being
concealed in a suitcase. The Ahl al-Sunnah say that the non-existent is NOT a thing, regardless of its being
possible to exist or impossible to exist [Bājūrī in Tuĥfah, #122]. See Endnote 1.

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