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Divine Knowledge
Imagine yourself sitting in a small room with only one little window to look through to the outside. The room is right beside some railway tracks. As you are sitting there, a train passes by while you are looking out of the window. Since the window is small and the distance between the train and the room is little, you can only see a portion of the train at a time. Further away, someone is standing on a tall building, and is able to view, the entire train at once.
Human beings, like the person in the small room with the small window, view the time-bound world from the narrow pigeonhole of their existence, unable to view the past and the future but only the immediate present God. however, as the Creator of the world transcends lime and space and temporal and spatial phenomena. As such, He has knowledge of everything, spanning the entire spectrum of time and the entire expanse of space.
The concept of knowledge is one with which we are all familiar. The instances of knowledge that we are familiar with, however, are limited and finite. Such knowledge, therefore, is inapplicable to God, Yet the human mind is capable of divesting of knowledge the delimiting qualifications to conceive a mode of knowledge dial is infinite and absolute. It is after subjecting the concept of knowledge to this process of mental abstraction that we may validly predicate it of God.
Argument for divine knowledge
There are different ways to demonstrate God’s all-encompassing knowledge. Below, we will consider two arguments.
Argument from Design
The spectacular order and design exhibited by the world and its phenomena clearly point to a wise, intelligent, and knowledgeable creator In other words.
order and design in the world demonstrate that the creator must have prior knowledge concerning the nature and characteristics of the creatures to have been able to engage in such awe-inspiring and mind-boggling creative activity.
This argument from design is effective in proving God’s antecedent knowledge of creation and His subsequent guidance whereby He manages the affairs of the world and maintains its order, ensuring its continuance despite its drastic rate of change and flux.
Inductive Argument
Another way to prove God’s Knowledge is to resort to the inductive argument. The inductive argument for the Divine Attributes, including knowledge, reasons that all the perfections that are found in the creatures must derive from God, and as such He must possess them, albeit with an infinitely greater degree of intensity. If God lacked the perfections displayed by the creatures, He could not have bestowed them onto the creatures.Yet, it is impossible that they could have received them from any other source. Therefore, they must have received them from God, and as such God must partake of the same perfections. Of course, it should go without saying that the perfections characteristic of created beings are plagued by privation and imperfection whereas those of the Infinite Existence of God are free of privation and defect. From this we draw the conclusion that God must be possessed of infinite and eternal knowledge; He is Omniscient.
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God’s Most Well-Known Attributes
Some of God’s well-known positive attributes are as follows:
1. God is omniscient (al-’Alim)):He knows everything.
2.God is omnipotent (al-Qadir)): He has power over all things.
3.God is living (al-Hayy) Life is the quality that enables knowledge and power.
4.God is eternal (al-Qadim wa al-Azali):He is without beginning or end.
A number of God’s well-known negative attributes are as follows:
1. God is not composite: He is simple. If He were composite. He would have been in need of His constituent parts, while He is absolutely self-sufficient, without need.
2. God is not corporeal. Corporeal being is finite, mutable, and perishable, but He is infinite, immutable, and imperishable.
3. God is not perceptible, for if He were perceptible, lie would have been corporeal, but He is incorporeal.
4. God is without an equal: He is unique. If there were other beings on par with Him. He would have been finite and limited, for it is impossible for two absolutely infinite beings to co-exist. Furthermore, the unity governing this world clearly demonstrates the unity of its Creator.
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Attributes of Beauty, Attributes of Majesty
Islamic theology divides the Divine Attributes into two general categories: positive attributes and negative attributes. Positive attributes are those that signify the perfections that God possesses, whereas the negative attributes indicate the imperfections that are negated from God. Positive attributes are alternatively referred to as Attributes of Perfection or Attributes of Beauty, as they affirm the beauty and perfection in God’s existence. The negative attributes have alternative names such as ‘dissociative attributes’ because they dissociate God from the properties and qualities, which are characteristics of created beings, and ‘sublime attributes since they pronounce God’s eminence. The common designation for these attributes is ‘Attributes of Majesty’ as they emphasize God’s majesty and superiority as being distinguished from the inferiority of His creatures.
It is important to note that negative attributes are actually positive attributes in disguise. To negate imperfections from God is to affirm positive attributes to Him, negation of negation amounts to affirmation. Similarly, as in math, where two negative signs cancel each other out, giving way to a positive value. For instance, non-ignorance is also an example of a negative attribute. In this instance, the concept of ignorance is negative because it indicates a lack of knowledge. As such, to negate a lack of knowledge from God is to affirm His knowledge, which is a perfection. All negative attributes in this manner are reducible to positive attributes.
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Divine Attributes
There is a wise, intelligent, and powerful creator responsible for the creation of human beings as well as the entire world. The name we commonly ascribe to the creator is “God.” Now that we have ascertained die existence of God, the next step is to grasp a better understanding of God. We may. therefore, ask, “What are the attributes of God?”
The topic of God’s attributes occupies a prominent place in all religions. Most religions presuppose God’s existence, and as such they concern themselves exclusively with propounding God’s attributes. Most theologians interpret this treatment of God’s attributes as indicating that they are comprehensible to human reason. Of course, this does not mean that all people enjoy the same level of comprehension in understanding them.
It is a general philosophical principle that in order to bestow something onto another being, one must first be in possession of that which is being imparted.To bestow something to another implies that one possesses that which one bestows. Based on this general principle, God must possess all those perfections that He bestows onto His creatures, albeit at an infinitely higher degree.
The Way to Know God’s Attributes
Religions ascribe a multiplicity of names and attributes to God, often furnishing rational arguments in support of these names and attributes. Philosophers and theologians tend to take the necessary being as the primary attribute of God and by analyzing it arrive at a number of other Divine Attributes.
Furthermore, should we succeed in demonstrating that God is Absolutely Perfect. we would be warranted in ascribing all attributes of perfection to Him - such as knowledge and power - in an infinite and absolute capacity.
Lastly, another way to arrive at God’s attributes is induction. By studying the perfection of creatures, we conclude that the Creator must necessarily possess those perfections, although to an infinitely greater extent. Of course, the inductive way for gaining knowledge of the Divine Attributes requires special caution and care.
Although we judge that God must possess the perfections He imparts to the creatures, we also know that He is incorporeal and infinite. He is not bound by the limitations of the creatures. As such, before ascribing to God the attributes we arrive at inductively, we must negate of them all of their negative connotations pertaining to the finale and deficient creatures of the material world. This is a very delicate task, as we are accustomed to the privations and deficiencies of the material world in which we have been brought up, and so it could be very difficult to wean our minds from them.
The beings we are associated with arc material and thus bound by the limitations of the material world. Material beings are confined to a certain time and place and partake of a specific shape with particular dimensions. As such, our minds generally think in the context of time and space. Now, to free our minds from this context so as to conceive God, who transcends time and space and the world of finite existence, requires special care and diligent mental effort.
Now that we have learned the different approaches to examining God’s Attributes. one may ask what is the most concise form in which God’s attributes may be expressed.The answer consists of the following two sentences:
1. God possesses all perfections infinitely;
2. God’s existence is free of any and all imperfections.
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Blind Devotion to Sensory and Empirical Science
Empiricists maintain that the world is confined to the physical and sensible. Citing the advances of empirical science as a vindication of their position, they arrogantly deny the truth and validity of anything that lies beyond the scope of empirical investigation. Blinded by this scientistic hubris, they vehemently reject the existence of fitrah. But it is important to note that not all scientists entertain such blind scientism. There are many scientists who, citing the amazing design and order in the world, affirm that there must be an intelligent, supernatural agent at work. Just as the design in a human invention or artistic work points to the existence of an intelligent creator.
Heeding One's Divine Nature
Have you ever been in a situation where you lose hope in everything and everybody? Imagine yourself stranded on the high seas in a ship that is about to drown. You know there is no one around you to hear your calls for help.
Your electronic communication devices are all broken. How would you feel in such a situation? Would you, lost in utter despair, surrender yourself to death or would you instead invoke the infinite power and mercy of God?
When on the brink of a devastating calamity, from which no human or natural cause could extricate him. The human being often experiences a peculiar source of hope glimmering within his heart. In the moment of utter despair when there is no longer any hope in natural causes, the human being impulsively turns lo a higher power that can save him. This intuitive and impulsive inclination lo beseech a supreme savior is for the existence of God.
Proving God’s Existence by Recourse to Our Divine Nature (Fitrah)
The human being is endowed with a divine and spiritual nature that intuitively grasps his dependence on God without having to formulate rational reasoning. It is possible and intellectually tenable to appeal to this profound and inherent acquaintance with God to prove His existence. In other words, we can employ this intuitive knowledge to formulate a philosophically fruitful argument for God’s existence. Western and Eastern philosophers alike have invoked the human being’s divine nature (fitrah) in proving God’s existence. They have diverged, of course, in the precise formulation of their arguments. Yet, the main substance of these arguments is the same as they all cite humankind’s nature and innate inclinations.
Divine Nature Argument
One of the important arguments presented by Muslim theologians and philosophers is the argument from divine nature. Several different versions of this argument have been articulated. Here we will consider only one articulation.
There is a clear and discernible inclination embedded in human nature toward infinite existence and absolute perfection, All human beings partake of an innate tendency to seek a superior being and to draw near to it so as to better fulfill their inward and outward needs and to be able to successfully stave off all the threats and dangers they may encounter. As such, the human being is innately inclined to adore and worship such a superior being. This superior being we call God. And God must of necessity exist, for if God lacks an objective reality, the innate human inclination is rendered futile.
In other words, human beings possess an innate inclination toward God. Innate inclinations must of necessity have a corresponding objective reality (just as the eye requires that there be light in the world and the ear presupposes the existence of sound). Therefore, there must be a corresponding objective reality that is the object of the innate inclination toward God.
Human inclinations invariably presupposes two sides, both of which must enjoy objective reality: the inclined subject and the object toward which the inclination is directed. Without these two sides, there can be no inclination. In other words, human inclination is a correlation, requiring two sides in order to come about. All correlations in fact presuppose two objective sides. The father-son relationship, for instance, is a correlation, and therefore it cannot be without either father or son. The term son is meaningless unless a correlative father is presupposed. In a correlation, therefore, if one side is objective, its correlative must also be objective.
The same truth holds in relation to human inclinations. Where there is a genuine and objective human inclination, there must be a corresponding object that is also real. This applies not only to the loftier inclinations but also to the animal instincts. The feeling of hunger indicates that there must be corresponding reality that satisfies this urge, that reality being food.
When one experiences the feeling of love and passion, there must be an objective correlative that can satisfy this feeling. The precise nature of that correlative is irrelevant; what we mean is that there must be a correlative for this feeling in objective reality.
It is the same truth that we intend when speaking of the God-seeking inclination in human nature. Since the human being partakes of a natural inclination toward God and since inclinations are correlational, there must be a corresponding objective reality that answers to this innate inclination. In short, the innate inclination and God are correlatives: The innate inclination is real; therefore. God must also be real.
Based on the theory that there is a common nature that all human beings share, there are certain innate inclinations and intuitions that people of all times and cultures partake of. These inclinations and intuitions may be highlighted as follows:
- Human beings are innately aware of God, God-loving, God-worshipping, and God-seeking, albeit subconsciously.
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Our ultimate beloved and final purpose is God, there is no substitute that can fully satiate this subconscious passion for God. It is only with God that the human being can achieve enduring peace and serenity.
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The human being is by nature a monotheist: His very nature despises polytheism.
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Human beings are incessantly seeking God without knowing it. They are intuitively drawn to the truth, the just, the beautiful, and the perfect. We are captivated by beauty and perfection in whatever form it may appear. We respect and praise virtue on account of the innate inclination within our nature.
- Knowledge of God is embedded in the fabric of our very nature. We are intuitively aware of God in the depths of our souls. As such, unbelief, agnosticism, atheism, and any other form of doubt in God are symptomatic of the corruption and deviation of human nature.
Running Match
Imagine that you were called on to participate in a running match that had a grand prize that would entice even the frailest of people to try their fortune. Yet, to participate you must meet one bizarre condition: To start the race, you must wait for the other runner to start, and he must also wait for you to start running. Each of the two contestants can start running only after the other one starts. Obviously. the race would never take place and the two runners would never start running.