One of the aspects of Tawhid (God’s unity) is unity in divinity. what does it mean?

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Most of the polytheists were agreed on the unity in creation. They were disagreed with monotheists on unity in divinity. At the time of His highness Abraham (a.s.) polytheists believed in one God but they thought in error that stars were the lord of the universe. According to the Holy Quran, His highness Abraham had a discussion with them about this matter, i.e. divinity of the heavenly bodies (the moon, the sun and the stars). (1)

At the time of His highness Joseph (a.s.) who lived after His highness Abraham (a.s.), polytheists did not believe in unity in divinity, too. They thought that after creating the universe God has left the management of it to another one. Therefore His highness Joseph (a.s.) has emphasized on the unity in divinity and said that:

O [my] two companions of prison, are separate lords better or Allah, the One, the Prevailing? (2)

The explanation of unity in divinity is that the management of the universe is not separated from the creation of it and in fact it’s management is it’s creation. Since the creator of the universe and the human is One so the managers of them will be One because there is a direct connection between the management and the creation of the universe. Therefore where God calls Himself the creator of all things, calls Himself the manager of them too and says that:

It is Allah who erected the heavens without pillars that you [can] see; then He established Himself above the Throne and made subject the sun and the moon, each running [its course] for a specified term. He arranges [each] matter; He details the signs that you may, of the meeting with your Lord, be certain. (3) (4)

1. Refer to the Holy Quran, Surah 6:76-78.
2. Quarn, Surah 12:39.
3. Quran, Surah 13:2.
4. Features of the Beliefs of Shia, p.58.
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One of the aspects of God’s unity is unity of divine attributes. What does it mean?

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Doubtlessly, the Exalted God has some attributes with which His perfect essence is described. For example, it is said that He is knowledgeable, powerful and alive. A human being also has these attributes. He is also knowledgeable, powerful and alive. But there are two main differences between God’s attributes and those of humanbeings:

1. Although these attributes, i.e. life, knowledge and power are different concepts, concerning the Exalted God they are one in the respect of reality, nature, i.e. the reality of knowledge is not separate from the reality of power and these two ones’ realities are not separate from life’s reality. God’s essence is totally knowledge, power and life. But regarding a human being, these attributes are different from each other. The reality of knowledge is different from the reality of power and these two ones’ realities are different from the reality of being alive. Therefore, God’s attributes are one and there is not any separation between them in the respect of reality.

2. As the realities of God’s attributes are one, His attributes and His essence are one, too. God’s attributes are just His essence and are not added to it and not separate from it. But a human being should acquire these attributes. At first, he is a human, not a learned and powerful man but then he acquires knowledge and power. (1)

1. Features of the beliefs of Shiah, p.55.

One of the aspects of Tawhid (God’s unity) is unity in divinity. what does it mean?

/in , /by

Most of the polytheists were agreed on the unity in creation. They were disagreed with monotheists on unity in divinity. At the time of His highness Abraham (a.s.) polytheists believed in one God but they thought in error that stars were the lord of the universe. According to the Holy Quran, His highness Abraham had a discussion with them about this matter, i.e. divinity of the heavenly bodies (the moon, the sun and the stars). (1)

At the time of His highness Joseph (a.s.) who lived after His highness Abraham (a.s.), polytheists did not believe in unity in divinity, too. They thought that after creating the universe God has left the management of it to another one. Therefore His highness Joseph (a.s.) has emphasized on the unity in divinity and said that:

O [my] two companions of prison, are separate lords better or Allah, the One, the Prevailing? (2)

The explanation of unity in divinity is that the management of the universe is not separated from the creation of it and in fact it’s management is it’s creation. Since the creator of the universe and the human is One so the managers of them will be One because there is a direct connection between the management and the creation of the universe. Therefore where God calls Himself the creator of all things, calls Himself the manager of them too and says that:

It is Allah who erected the heavens without pillars that you [can] see; then He established Himself above the Throne and made subject the sun and the moon, each running [its course] for a specified term. He arranges [each] matter; He details the signs that you may, of the meeting with your Lord, be certain. (3) (4)

1. Refer to the Holy Quran, Surah 6:76-78.
2. Quarn, Surah 12:39.
3. Quran, Surah 13:2.
4. Features of the Beliefs of Shia, p.58.

What is meant by the Makr of Allah (scheming, plotting, planning) that has been mentioned in the Quran?

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“Makr” means to devise for good or evil and this is why it is described by the word “السَّيئ” (bad/evil) in the Quran.

Allah’s Makr

The many verses that attribute “Makr” to Allah refer to his supreme direction and regulation of matters. Since he is the true owner of all management, there is no devising separate from His. Therefore, Allah has supremacy over all planners as it is mentioned in the Quran:
“Allah is the best of planners.”
The Almighty also says in the Quran: Those who were before them [also schemed]; yet all devising belongs to Allah. He knows what every soul earns. Soon the faithless will know in whose favor the outcome of that abode will be. This verse clearly asserts that Allah is the supreme deviser and others’ thoughts and devising will do them no good in opposition to His.

What difference do God’s knowledge, power, justice and life make with the same attributes in human beings?

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God, the Exalted, is characteristic of such attributes (e.g. knowledge, power and life etc.) which indicate the perfection of His essence.

Man also possesses these characteristics and is qualified by them. He is powerful, knowledgeable and alive but with God’s permission. The qualities with which God is described and qualified are different from those of human qualities in two ways:

1- These attributes (knowledge, power and life) are various concepts but ontologically they are one and the same when ascribed to God. That is to say, they are over and above to God’s essence. The ontological status of God’s knowledge is not different from His power and these two attributes are not different from the attribute of life. God, the Sublime, is absolute knowledge, power and life whereas man is not as such. Man’s knowledge and power are different from his being alive.

2- In the same way that the actuality of God’s attributes does not make difference, God’s attributes and His essence are not separated from each other. God’s attributes are the same as His essence; they are not something additional to His essence. On the contrary, man’s qualities are additional to his essence because he had been a human being but had not been knowledgeable and powerful. He lacked power and knowledge. In fact, he acquired knowledge and power. In addition, man is a possible being and a possible being is limited in terms of existence. Man’s attributes are limited in the same way as his essence. Unlike man, God is a pure and infinite existent, so are His attributes.

For example, God’s power and will are infinite and at the same time He is not subjugated by the same system which He Himself created, there is both wisdom (hikmah) as well as expediency (maslaha) in His creation. The meaning of wisdom with respect to God is this that He creates things existentially perfect and with whatever attributes that are required for its perfection whereas wisdom with respect to man’s action means that he does an action so that he himself may reach his purpose and gain perfection. That is because the existence of the caused and its relation with the cause are not but one thing; they are not two things so that it could be assumed that they can be separated from each other. Therefore, when God, the Almighty, wills to create, He wills the particular causes which are equal to willing its relation with its particular causes until it reaches a cause which is connected with the ultimate Truth and the will of the ultimate truth is equal to willing all things, all relationships and all systems.

The attribute of wisdom (hikmah) when ascribed to God and to human beings, shall give two different meanings. Man’s being wise means that he has a purpose behind every task and he chooses the best goals and he adopts the best way and the best means to reach those goals. But God is absolutely Needless; He does not search for something nor does He need to attain anything because no perfection is assumed of which He might be devoid. His being Wise means that He does not create things absurdly and anything that He creates, He creates it in the most perfect way as far as possible. Thus, He creates things in such a fashion that they receive as much goodness and perfection as possible. To make a long story short, the divine wisdom is to be fundamentally associated with the aspect of goodness and perfection of a thing. He guides them towards secondary perfections which are another type of enabling things to attain their perfection.

In this regard, you can refer to theological and philosophical resources such as:
1- Islamic Beliefs by Ja’far Subhani;
2- Theological Instructions by Muhammad Taqi Misbbah Yazdi.

Does the Qur’an intend to identify God as the sensible and physical light when it says that God is the light of the heavens and the earth?

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1. Certainly, the by referring to Allah as light, the Qur’an does not intend to identify Him as a physical and sensory light because the sensible light is a part of the accident characteristic of matter whereas there are numerous arguments which negate the physicality of God, the Exalted, and which forbid us from considering God as a sensible and material light.

In addition, there are many Quranic verses which negate any similarity between God and anything else. Hence, if God has been described as being “the light of the Heavens and the earth”, the term “light” which refers to God is not and cannot be the sensory light.

2. Light is something which makes things visible; which is itself manifest and helps make other things manifest. The human mind conceives light in this very sense. Absence of light is termed darkness, invisibility and obscurity. On the other hand, when there is visibility and things become exposed to view, man says there is light. Allah has been called ‘Light’ in this basic sense. This conception of light has nothing to do with the reality of the meaning for which human mind has coined this word. If we analyze the meaning of light in relation to God, it would be correct to use for spiritual matters in the sense that they illuminate the soul. For example, the word “Eman” has been termed as “light” in the Quran which is granted to a believer.

3. Since God is manifest and clear and He is the Creator and the Illuminator of the heavens and the earth, it is correct to use the word “light” for God. In fact, it is the existence of everything that is the cause of its manifestness to others; the highest form of light is therefore existence itself. Moreover, since the existence of contingent beings depends on the bestowal of existence by the Truth, the Supreme, He is the most complete instance of light. It is He Who is essentially manifest and also makes manifest all other-than-him. All other existents become manifest and existent by virtue of Him.

4. By the expression “the heavens and the Earth”, what is intended is the entirety of the world of existence – all the celestial and the terrestrial existents; the apparent and the hidden worlds. “The heavens and the earth” does not merely signify the sky above and the Earth that we inhabit. Therefore, the meaning of the verse is that Allah is the Light of the entire universe. The reason why the verse has employed this word in lieu of the Creator is to point to the fact that just as light is itself visible and does not need anything else to make it visible, and it is light itself that illuminates all other things, likewise Allah has no creator and there is no other agent that could shed light on Him. He is a manifest, clear and self-evident existence. There is no need for formulating reasoning to prove His existence.

As propounded by the Gnostics in following the mystical teachings of the Prophets and the Imams, Allah is manifest to the highest degree; He is absolutely clear, and hence there is no need for the mediation of His creatures to reveal Him. In other words, in order to reason for the existence of Allah, one should utilize the argument of cause rather than the argument of effect.

Without the light of the Divine Essence, the shadow of non-existence would envelope all things; the resulting darkness would not be like that of the night (rather it would be the darkness of non-existence).

Hence, it must be said that Allah is absolute light. In comparison to Him, there is no other light. All other lights in comparison to Him are darkness. For the only existent Who is by His essence manifest and manifesting, is Allah. All other things that are manifest and that illuminate other creatures are by their essences dark. It is Allah Who has bestowed on them that feature. If He is not seen, it is because He is obscured by the intensity of His light.

5. Another point that can be inferred from this verse is that we refer to Allah as light, not as “the greatest light”, which implies that there are other lights as well, some more bright and others less bright, and that Allah is the greatest. According to the Qur’an, there is only one light and that is Allah, and everything else is dark and non-existent. It is true, however, that in comparing the creatures together, some are light and some are not – for instance, knowledge, faith, intellect etc., are light, but have all derived their light from Allah. Thus in comparison to Allah, there is no other light, or in other words, He is “the Light of Lights. That is, He is the light of all lights rather than being the greatest light. Therefore, the belief that Allah is the greatest light, that He is of the sensory lights but the brightest and the most intense – reputedly attributed to the Manicheans – is false.

6. There are different sayings, traditions and narratives in the interpretations concerning this verse. For information about them, one should refer to relevant books, exegesis (commentaries) and other textual sources.

Can you prove why God should be unlimited?

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In order to answer the question, we must clarify the meaning of the infiniteness of God and His relation with other beings:

Divine infinity means that God is in every way immeasurable, unbounded, unlimited, unrestricted, without end, inexhaustible and has all attributes of perfection. [1] In all of His attributes, God is limitless and endless. When you consider His power, wisdom, justice, knowledge, etc., God is boundless. He is not restricted by time or space. He has all attributes of perfection and there is no perfection that He might lack. [2] The essence of God is limitless and unbounded. The Quran says:

“And He is Allah in the heavens and on earth” [3]

and

“Whithersoever ye turn, there is the presence of Allah.” [4]

God is therefore present everywhere and He is not restricted by time or place. He is above time and place. However, infiniteness in relation to God does not mean that He has occupied all places in the same way and manner as the physical entities have filled them. In fact, God is not matter and He does not fill the places in the material sense. It is only matter (that has length, breadth and width) that occupies a place and God is not matter to occupy a place. Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi says:

“As for why God is not matter, it is because every material object is limited, limited by time, place, qualities, features and effects. Every physical object has a fixed dimension whereas God’s existence is infinite and immeasurable in all terms. Obviously, such a being cannot be bounded with time and place. [5]

When it comes to the question as to why God is unlimited and infinite, we must say:

First, in view of the fact that a necessary being must be all-perfect (i.e. he should have all virtues of perfection) and that He cannot be limited by anything because if He were limited, it would mean that He is a combination of existence and non-existence. It has been proved elsewhere that combination is a sign of need and the concomitant of need is space whereas God (Who is the Necessary Being) is free from need and imperfection as was argued above. In fact, combination is against our supposition. [6] Secondly, it has been proved in its place that God, the Exalted, is pure existence and pure actuality. Finiteness means combination of existence and non-existence. Therefore, pure existence is not compatible with finiteness and limitation, and pure perfection cannot be limited by anything.

[1] Makarem Shirazi, Naser, The Belief of a Muslim, Hadaf Publication, 1st edition, p. 38
[2] Makarem Shirazi, Naser, “How to Know God”, Muhammadi Publications, 1343 p.42
[3] Al-An’am, 3
{هُوَ اللهُ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَفِي الأَرْضِ}
[4] Al-Baqarah, 115
{فَأَيْنَمَا تُوَلُّواْ فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ اللهِ}
[5] Makarem Shirazi, Naser, The Belief of a Muslims, p. 43.
[6] Vide: A Collection of Student Questions, Khuda Shinasi and Farjamshinasi, Maaref Publication Office, 2003, p. 71, with little modification.

What is the meaning of “God has no material body and no eye can ever see him”?

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WE BELIEVE that God can never be seen by the physical eyes; because the object of seeing by the eyes, is a material body that has to have place, colour, form and direction. These are all the qualifications of the creatures, and not that of the creator. God is really far from that. Therefore the belief that one may physically see God, is a sort of polytheism, and going astray in this field.

“No vision can grasp Him, but He grasps all visions.” (The Holy Quran – S6: 103)

This is why when the Israelites objected, asking Moses to let them see God: he took them to the mount sinai, and as mentioned in HOLY QURAN:

“And when Moses came to a place appointed by us, (ON THE MOUNT SINAI) his lord addressed him; and Moses said, “o my lord! show thyself to me: (let me see you) that I may look upon You! Allah said, “By no means can you see me; but look upon the mountain, if it abides in its place, then you may see me.” When his lord manifested His glory on the mountain it turned into dust, and Moses fell down into a swoon. When he recovered his senses, he said, “Glory be to thee! To thee I return and I am the first one to believe in you.” (The Holy Quran – S7: 143)

And by such incidents it was proved that God can never be seen.
WE BELIEVE that our Islamic traditions denoting the observance of God, aim at seeing Him by the mind and by the heart, and not by the sense of vision of the eyes at all. In one of his sermons collected in the famous book: NAHJUL BALAGHA, Emam Ali says:

“Eyes cannot see Him, but He can be seen by the realities of faith”.

WE BELIEVE that the attributes of the creatures, such as: place, direction, material body, and physical observance should not be ascribed to God. If done so, it shall lead to polytheism, and remoteness from the true knowledge of HIM, who is above all, and nothing is similar to HIM.

Ref: Our Belief (a brief description of Islam: Shiite believe); Ayt. Makarem Shirazi; Translated by: Monir Shafi

In the 14th ayat of Surah Mominoon Allah calls Himself “The Best of the Creators”. Does it mean that there exist other Creators as well?

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From the aspect of Arabic language the root Khalq (creation) occurs in three meanings:
1. To evaluate or estimate something.
2. To transform a thing into something else. For example to make tools from iron.
3. To bring something from non-existence into existence. That is to bestow existence upon something that did not exist before.
Without any doubt the third meaning is special to the Almighty Allah, but the first and the second are applicable even to human beings. In the ayats of the Holy Quran the root Khalq is used in the first or the second meaning. For example it is mentioned regarding Isa ibn Maryam (‘a):

“and when you would create from clay the form of a bird, with My leave, and you would breathe into it and it would become a bird, with My leave;”[5:110]

Here it denotes changing one thing into another.
So according to the first and the second meanings there can be many creators who , by the way, are all the creatures of Allah and are all dependent on Him. So it is correct to state that He is the best of Creators.

Ref: Ayt. Makarim Shirazi and Ayt. Ja’far Subhani., Religious questions answered: Logic for Islamic rules, Published by: Ansariyan Publications Qum, The Islamic Republic of Iran

How atoms give us a lesson in Monotheism?

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Learning about atoms, which are among the most important scientific discussions today, this tiny thing gives us a glad and happy lesson in monotheism because the world of atoms call our attention to them in four areas.
1. The extraordinary sense of order. To date, more than 100 elements have been discovered beginning gradually with one electron and accepting up to over 100; this amazing order could never be born from an unaware or unintelligent factor.

2. Strong sense of balance. We know that two different electrons attract each other. Thus electrons which are negative and a nucleus which is positive should attract each other.
In addition, we also know that the encirclement of electrons around a nucleus brings a repulsive force into being (flight from the center). Thus the pull of this force draws electrons away from the atomic environment. The atom is separated and its attractive forces want to attract the electrons and destroy the atom.
It is here that one must see how accurately the force of ‘attraction’ and ‘repulsion’ have been systematically arranged in atoms so that neither do the electrons flee nor are they attracted, but are always in a state of balance, continuing their movement. is it possible that a blind and deaf nature bring this balance into being?

3. Each upon its own way: We have said that some atoms have a multiple number of electrons but not that all of the electrons move in one circuit, but rather, in multiple circuits and each electron in a determined distance, each within its own area, with great speed move like this for millions of years, without any contradiction arising between them. is it a simple issue to place all of these in a fixed circuit and movement with an unbelievable system of order?

4. The great energy of the atom: In order to understand the great strength of the atom, just consider that in 1945, an experimental atom bomb was set off in the wilderness. A very small atomic bomb was placed upon a metal stand. After the explosion, the metal melted and then set off steam and electricity and a frightful sound was heard. When scientists went to look for it, there was no sign of it.
In this same year, two small bombs like these were inhumanely exploded over Japan by the USA, one in the city of Nagasaki and the other in the city of Hiroshima. In the first city, 70,000 people were killed instantly and the same number were injured and in the second city, 30 to 40, 000 people were killed instantly and the same number were injured, making Japan unconditionally surrender the war with America.

Is it not sufficient to simply study the small atom for the human being to come to know the greatness of the Creator of the universe? It can then be said that there are as many reasons for the existence of God as there are atoms in the universe.

{و لو ان ما في الارض من شجرة اقلام و البحر يمده من بعده سبعة ابحر ما نفدت کلمات الله}
“And if all the trees on earth were pens and the ocean (were ink), with seven oceans behind it to add to its (supply) yet would not the words of God be exhausted” … (31:27)

Ref: Fifty Lessons of Principles of Belief for Youths; Ayt. Makarem Shirazi; Translated by: Bahador Shirazian; Published by: Ahlul Bayt World Assembly