The Path to “Understanding Godâ€‌

By: Muhammad Saâ€کidi-Mihr Amir Divani
In the previous section, we discussed the superiority and perfection of Islamic theology and afterwards we briefly discussed the methods of realizing God, which is the first stage in understanding Him. Now we shall examine the second stage, which involves identifying divine attributes and actions. We call this step “Understanding Godâ€‌ as opposed to “Realizing Godâ€‌.
We all know very well that each religion and ideology including Islam attributes certain characteristics to their God and ascribes certain actions to Him. As we have previously mentioned, the difference of opinion between various theists regarding the attributes and actions of God have resulted in contrasting theologies and diverse portrayals of their object of devotion. Indeed, the most significant method of understanding God is by understanding His attributes and actions. A more comprehensive and in-depth insight into these issues results in a more perfect theology. Therefore, it is morally and intellectually imperative that all believers increase the depth and caliber of their understanding of God through correct and penetrating studies of God’s attributes.
All of us may have seen believers who do not have an accurate understanding of God’s attributes and have sufficed themselves with superficial and fallacious knowledge. It may even be true that we too are such believers. We may have seen many people who albeit unwittingly tend toward “corporealization of Godâ€‌ [jism ingārī]. For example, they may visualize God as a great being who lives in the skies. Many of us are also affected by a kind of “anthropomorphism of Godâ€‌ [insānvār ingārī]; in other words, we regard God—at least with respect to some attributes—similar to humans, or we consider the source of divine acts as humanlike feelings and emotions!
We must also bear in mind that superficial or fallacious understanding of divine attributes and actions is not merely an intellectual problem without any effect on our daily lives; the truth is the complete opposite. Persons who believe in God and His power and sovereignty but do not correctly understand the boundlessness of His mercy and clemency may completely lose all hope in attaining paradise after committing a great sin and may regard themselves eternally damned and suffer from mental anguish throughout their lives because they believe that God will never forgive them. In addition, when faced with apparently unsolvable problems in their lives, those who incorrectly understand the power and generosity of God easily give up and instead of practicing patience, perseverance, and trust in God, become debilitated and weak.
In short, the endeavors of believers to continually correct and perfect their theology is not simply a struggle to attain a worthy set of beliefs and knowledge; rather, these efforts have phenomenal, practical and sometimes decisive effects upon one’s life. This is why Islam has a special regard for theological issues and has presented comprehensive teachings about divine attributes and acts. Throughout the centuries, the detailed teachings of Islam have presented mutakalimūn, philosophers, mystics and other Moslem thinkers with an invaluable legacy, which, through interpretation and development, has brought order to Islamic theology. In the following discussions, we shall attempt to illuminate briefly some of the most important Islamic theological beliefs.

Understanding the Nature of God and His Attributes
One of the basics of Islamic theology is recognition and differentiation between the nature of God and His attributes and actions. Understanding Divine Nature is not possible for any being other than God, including humanity. A short and clear proof of this claim is that the nature of God is illimitable and infinite while all other beings are limited and finite and, self-evidently, a limited being cannot understand the unlimited nature of God.1
The intellect can understand the depth of His nature, If a whirligig can reach the depth of the sea.2
This fact can also be extracted from various Qur’anic verses such as this: “He knows that which they have before them, and that which they have left behind, while they do not comprehend Him in knowledge.â€‌3
According to a tradition, as an interpretation of this verse Imam â€کAlī (â€کa) stated: “Creations cannot comprehend God in knowledge.â€‌4
The impossibility of understanding Divine Nature does not mean that we are deprived of any knowledge of God whatsoever; rather, humanity has been given access to a different sort of knowledge that comes through appreciation of divine attributes and actions. Therefore, humanity’s desire for understanding their Lord is not out of proportion. On the contrary, comprehension of God—in the way we have explained—is not only possible but also ideal. Divine prophets have also endeavored to familiarize humans with divine attributes and reveal unto them their mistakes and obstacles in the path of understanding God.
The Holy Qur’an has mentioned the attributes of God in many verses. For example, regard the following verse: “He is Allah besides Whom there is no god. He is the King, the All-holy, the All-salutary, the Granter of security, the Guardian over all, the Almighty, the All-dominating, the All-sublime. Allah is pure of those they associate with Him. He is Allah the Creator, the Maker, the Shaper. To Him belong the Names [and attributes] Most Beautiful [asmā’ ul-husnā]. All that is in the Heavens and earth glorify Him. He is the Almighty, the All-wise.â€‌5

The Methods of Understanding God
Many methods of understanding the attributes and acts of God have been placed before humankind. The following are the most important methods of understanding God:

1. Intellect
Just as the human intellect is useful in proving the existence of God, so also can it be useful in understanding God’s attributes. Initially, through the illuminations of their minds, humans concisely realize that God must contain all attributes of perfection; meaning that God possesses all qualities—in an absolute manner without any defects or faults—that in any way express the perfection of their modified noun.
Subsequently, through in-depth analysis of those attributes of God that are revealed in the course of proving His existence, one may attain comprehensive understanding of other divine attributes and their respective definitions and characteristics. For example, through intellectual reasoning regarding the existence of God, we proved His existence as a necessary being and thus by contemplating the meaning of the necessity of existence, we realize that God is not compound [murakkab] and is indivisible or monad [basīṭ]. This is because any compound requires the existence of its constituents and having need of something else to exist is incompatible with necessity of being. Thus, the intellect proves the attribute of indivisibility of God.

2. Nature
As we shall elucidate later in the discussion of divine Unity, at least several stages of belief in monotheism are amalgamated in the nature of humanity. In other words, the human nature regards God as One and Unique and does not tolerate polytheism. As a result, humans can realize and understand several of God’s attributes—such as Unity—through their nature.

3. Investigation of the Natural World
Another means of understanding God is contemplation about the state and characteristics of the world around us. For example, considering the general order of existence and the finality [hadafmandī / ghāyatmandī] of natural phenomena reveals the attributes of God’s omniscience and divine wisdom.

4. Mystical Revelation
Mystical revelation is also a method of understanding God. Through spiritual and mystical perfection, humans can attain such rank that they can spiritually perceive the beauty and majesty of God and observe the manifestations of His perfect attributes.

5. Referral to the Qur’an and Traditions
Yet another method of understanding the attributes and actions of God is studying Qur’anic verses and the teachings of the leaders of Islam. The perpetually flowing and inspiring fountainhead that is the Qur’an and Traditions of the Immaculates presents us with profound and extensive teachings concerning theology—teachings that the intellect cannot possibly unravel by itself or that can be comprehend only with great difficulty.6

Understanding Divine Attributes
The intellect and divine revelation both agree that God possesses all attributes of perfection; God is Omniscient, Omnipotent, Benevolent, Living, Creator, Benefactor, and, in addition to these attributes, many other qualities can be accredited to Him. On the other hand, many of God’s attributes—such as knowledge, power, and life—are used in common with both God and His creations. Are the meanings of each of these attributes identical in both usages? Or, does each usage have a different meaning? For example, does the word “knowledgeableâ€‌ have the same meaning in these two statements: “God is knowledgeableâ€‌ and “Humans are knowledgeableâ€‌? There are three main perspectives concerning these questions:

The First Perspective
Some believe that not only is the meaning different in each of these usages, in fact humankind cannot fully understand the meaning of divine attributes. They believe that we may only accept and have faith in the existence of the attributes of God that are expressed in the Qur’an and Traditions but we cannot understand the full truth of these attributes.
The main grounds they offer for their belief is that humans perceive the meaning of attributes such as knowledge, power, and will through perceptions of our surroundings internal to ourselves, whereas associating these perceptions with God is not proper because God is in no way similar to His creations. He is an absolute and necessary being, while all other beings are contingent, limited, and imperfect. Therefore, we have no right to generalize our own attributes to God and because we do not have access to worthier concepts—and those concepts we do possess are based upon contingent beings—we have no choice but to remain silent regarding divine attributes and content ourselves with that which is discussed in the Qur’an and Traditions.

The Second Perspective
This group believes that there is no significant difference between the meanings of divine attributes and the attributes of created things and those attributes that are ascribed to both God and His creations have a somewhat similar meaning.

The Third Perspective
Alongside the aforementioned views, there is a third perspective that is more compatible with the general ambience of the Qur’an and Traditions. According to this view, even though there is a difference between the definitions of God’s attributes and those of His creations, this does not mean that God’s attributes are unfathomable. By taking inspiration from Qur’anic and Traditional concepts, the advocates of this perspective endeavor to offer an analysis of divine attributes that preserves the purity and sublimity of God in respect to the faults and limits of His creations while confirming the comprehensibility of His attributes. Following is a concise example of such an analysis: First, we must contemplate the essence of an attribute of perfection when used in respect to ourselves and the beings around us, and identify all the conditions that in some way limit this attribute. Next, we must distill the attribute of these limiting conditions. In other words, we must prune and isolate the essential meaning of the attribute from all limiting factors. Thus we reach a concept that is worthy of God since it describes a sort of existential perfection and is abstracted from all faults and deficiencies.
For instance, through our internal perception and contemplation of external objects, we arrive at an understanding of “knowledgeâ€‌ which is a type of awareness. However, this awareness is limited by several factors: it is temporal because at first it does not exist and later comes into existence. It is also affected by deterioration and forgetfulness. Additionally, in order to gain knowledge—in many cases—tools and instruments are needed. Also, in gaining knowledge there is a possibility of error. These factors—temporality, possibility of deterioration and errors, and necessity of instruments—are such that they cause limits or faults in our knowledge and awareness. Therefore, when using this attribute regarding God, we must abstract it of all these factors while preserving its essential meaning—awareness. Thus we arrive at a description of a knowledge that is past and future eternal (non-temporal), infallible, and needless of instruments. Such a description makes the Knowledge of God understandable and at the same time compatible with the Holiness and Sublimity of God.

Purity and Understandability of Divine Attributes in the Qur’an
As we have previously mentioned, this third perspective is more compatible with the Qur’an and Traditions. The Qur’an has mentioned God’s attributes in hundreds of verses and in some cases it has described and analyzed these attributes. The Qur’an continually invites us to contemplate upon its verses.7 How can one contemplate a verse containing God’s attributes without understanding those attributes? Can one truly accept that our duty is merely to read Qur’anic verses without understanding? Hence, continual reference to the attributes of God in the Qur’an proves the fallaciousness of the first perspective. Additionally, the Qur’an regards “worshipâ€‌ and “servitudeâ€‌ toward God as the ultimate purpose of our creation: “And I have not created the jinn and humankind but that they worship Me.â€‌ 8
It also obvious that worship of a being whose essence and attributes are completely unknown is meaningless and futile. From a logical standpoint, neither communicative relations nor spiritual proximity is possible with an unintelligible being. As an example, if we do not believe in the unlimited power, authority and ability of a being to act how can we beseech help from and have faith in that being?
Additionally, many verses in the Qur’an emphasize the sublimity and purity of God high above the attributes of His creations. God does not tolerate the assimilative descriptions some humans associate with Him. For example, after mentioning the unworthy beliefs of polytheists about God, the Qur’an regards their descriptions as unfitting of the status of Divine Holiness: “And they ascribe the jinn as associates to Allah, though He has created them. And without any knowledge, they impute to Him sons and daughters. He is pure of and highly exalted above what they describe.â€‌9
The purity the Qur’an describes, which both disagrees with the incomprehensibility of divine attributes and comparison of God with His creations, has been affirmed in several Traditions. Imam â€کAlī (â€کa) has stated: “He has not informed the intellect of the limits of His attributes; however He has not made it blind to necessary knowledge of Himself.â€‌ 10
Thus, it can be said that improving one’s understanding of God can only come about through understanding His attributes. Therefore, we shall endeavor to elucidate concisely several of the most important divine attributes. According to Islamic belief, one of the most important divine attributes is Divine Unity. Because of the importance of Divine Unity [tawhīd], we will start our succinct discussion regarding divine attributes with Unity.

1. Unity
Islam is a monotheist religion. The importance of Unity is such that, along with acceptance of the prophethood of Muhammad (S), it is the first condition for entering the life-giving religion of Islam and eternal salvation and bliss. Knowing that God is Unique and worshiping none but Him not only has a fundamental part in Islamic beliefs, it also has a key role in other areas of Islamic teachings, such as ethics [akhlāq] and Islamic jurisprudence [fiqh]. The essence of the Islamic moral system is based upon Divine Unity and many Islamic laws and rites originate from the monotheistic essence of Islam. Belief in Divine Unity reshapes the lives of humans—in both intellectual and ideological areas, and in deed and action—and colors our whole existence.
In short, Divine Unity is the root of the tree of Islam, and ideological, moral, and applied teachings are its branches, leaves, and fruit.
The doctrine of Divine Unity is not limited to Islam. In fact, all divine prophets enjoined humans to monotheism and all divine religions were monotheistic: “And before thee, we have never sent a messenger but that we revealed unto him, saying: â€کThere is no Allah but I, so serve Me.’â€‌11
In perpetuation of the call of previous prophets, the Holy Qur’an pays special attention to the principle of Divine Unity. The maxim of monotheism has been repeated many times in different forms throughout the Qur’an, including statements such as, “There is no god but Allah12â€‌, “There is no god but He13â€‌, and “There is no god but I14â€‌. Also by divine decree, the messenger of Islam (S) declares that the epitome of his message (risālah) is enjoining people to monotheism: “Say: â€کI have been commanded to serve Allah and to associate naught with Him. To Him I invite [you], and to Him I return.’â€‌15

Theoretical and Applied Monotheism
Monotheism is divided into two major branches: theoretical and applied. Theoretical monotheism is unconditional belief in the Unity of God in essence, attributes, and acts. When this belief becomes fused into the heart and soul, a person’s actions and endeavors gain a certain tenor and their deeds become monotheistic. Thus, applied monotheism is the condition where a person’s monotheistic beliefs control his actions so that he acts in accordance with his monotheistic thought.16
Theoretical monotheism is categorized into three groups: unity of divine essence [tawhīd al-ẓātī], unity of divine attributes [tawhīd al-sifātī], and unity of divine acts [tawhīd al-afâ€کālī]. Applied monotheism is also divided into several groups.17

2. Divine Knowledge
According to Islamic doctrine, God is knowledgeable of all creation and is aware of everything. As we have stated earlier, “knowledgeâ€‌ has a specific meaning which each of us experiences within ourselves. Nonetheless, in order to ascribe this definition to God we must strip it of all of the philosophical limits and conditions that are unbefitting of the divine status of God. Thus, we may define the knowledge of God as such: Divine knowledge is absolute, limitless, past and future eternal, infallible; it needs no instruments, preparation, or intermediates; and does not require external influence on the Divine Essence.
The most important fact regarding God’s knowledge is the issue of the boundlessness of His awareness. God is absolutely knowledgeable of His Essence and is aware of all of His creations, both before and after their creation.

God’s Prior Knowledge and Humanity’s Free Will
The knowledge of God is boundless and infinite and includes all incidents throughout the past, present and future. Thus, from the beginning of time, God has been aware of everything throughout eternity. This includes knowledge of what people will do and refrain from doing in the future. From long ago, God’s awareness of the future of all people has been regarded by some as a negation of our free will. They have the misunderstanding that God’s prior knowledge of our future deeds is incompatible with free will. This dispute and its resolution will be explored in the discussion entitled Compulsion [jabr] or Free Will [ikhtīyār].

The Perspective of Qur’an and Traditions regarding Divine Knowledge
Many Qur’anic verses speak of the knowledge and awareness of God. The conjugates of the infinitive â€کilm (knowledge), such as â€کalima (he knew) and ya’lamu (he knows), and the qualifier â€کalīm (very knowledgeable/omniscient) and its various offshoots such as samī’ (able to hear/all-hearing) and basīr (able to see/all-seeing) are used many times to describe God. Additionally, in several verses there are more specific qualities of knowledge attributed to God such as â€کālim ul-ghaīb (Knower of the Invisible) and â€کallām ul-ghuyūb (Knower of All Things Hidden). Because of the vast number of these verses, we will suffice with the explanation of two key points:

Proof of the Knowledge of God
It seems that the Holy Qur’an considers God’s knowledge and awareness needless of proof. Even so, the following interpretation in various verses indicates a sort of rationale regarding God’s omniscience: “Does not He who created know, while He is the All-exact (Knower of subtleties), the All-aware?â€‌18
By rhetorical questioning19, this verse asks if it is possible that God, who is the Creator, not be knowledgeable while the act of creation necessitates knowledge of all conditions and qualities of the creature. Thus according to the Holy Qur’an, there is a correlation between the act of creation and knowledge of the creature. Accordingly, one who considers God the Creator of all beings cannot refute His infinite knowledge of all the intricacies of Creation.

The Absolute and Infinite Knowledge of God
While describing God as knowledgeable and aware, the Holy Qur’an emphasizes the boundlessness of His knowledge. A reason for this emphasis may be that in addition to revealing a fundamental fact regarding divine attributes and perfecting and augmenting our theology and understanding of God, the principle of God’s infinite knowledge has valuable ethical and spiritual effects. Faith in the infinite knowledge of God and His awareness of all things has a profound role in fortifying our trust in God and stimulates us to engage in sincere worship of God. Furthermore, belief in the fact that God is aware of the public and private deeds of all people, including their motives and intents, has a positive effect upon our abstinence from sin and wrongdoing. In various places, the Qur’an explicitly declares the boundlessness of Divine Knowledge: “And Allah is knowledgeable of all things.â€‌20
Moreover, in other instances, it elucidates various aspects of divine knowledge and thus puts emphasizes on its comprehensiveness: “He knows what penetrates into the earth, and what comes forth from it, and what descends from the heavens and what ascends into it. He is with you no matter where you are; and Allah sees all you do.â€‌21
The descriptions in this verse pertain to many things, and in sum, this verse depicts the various aspects of God’s awareness of His creation. These descriptions include seeds, raindrops, tree roots, mines and treasures hidden within the earth, subterranean animals, seething springs, ascending and descending angels, clouds, birds, comets, and inestimable other things.
Yet other verses speak of God’s knowledge of the secrets hidden within the hearts: “Say: â€کWhether you hide what is in your breasts or reveal it, Allah knows it and He also knows all that is in the heavens and the earth.’â€‌22
The extensiveness and infiniteness of Divine Knowledge is also reflected in the teachings of Traditions (Hadith).
The Leader of the Faithful, â€کAlī (â€کa), explains the broadness of Divine Knowledge as follows: “God is aware of the cries of wild animals in the mountains and deserts, and the private transgressions of His servants, and the movements of fish in deep seas, and also the formation of turbulence and waves by strong winds.â€‌23
Additionally, it has been quoted about Imam Ṣādiq (â€کa) that in response to one of his disciples who said, “I thank God to the extent of His knowledge24â€‌, he replied, “Do not say that because there is no extent to His knowledge.â€‌25

3. Divine Power
Another of God’s attributes is power (omnipotence). Power is also one of the attributes that humans possess in a limited and deficient manner. Consequently, the meaning of power and impotence are, to a large extent, clear to us. Even so, we must bear in mind that at times the word power is used in religious teachings with a different meaning intended. For instance, in physics and the natural sciences, power may be used synonymously with energy or force. For better understanding of the difference of meanings and avoiding confusion, it can be said that in this discussion, â€کpowerful beings’ are beings that can perform an act if they will to do so and can refrain from performing it if they do not will to do so.
In other words, we can only say that one has the power to perform a certain act if performing the act or refraining from performing it depends on his own explicit volition and will. Therefore, the meaning of the statement “Jane has the power to writeâ€‌ is that if Jane wants to write, she may and if she does not want to, she may refrain from writing. Accordingly, omnipotence means that if God wills an act, He can carry it out, and if He wills not, He can refrain from performing the act.
Naturally, as previously mentioned, here too we must contemplate what we regard as “powerâ€‌ in the creatures of God, identify all limiting factors, and proclaim omnipotence to be pure of these limits. For example, when we scrutinize the truth of our power, we find that performing or foregoing an action is usually a function of external influences. Obviously, this is not true with reference to God because it necessitates that God be influenced by others and be controlled by something other than Himself, while this is contrary to the necessity of being and self-sufficiency of God.

Illimitability of God’s Power and the Omnipotence Paradox
Is God’s power unlimited, absolute, and all-encompassing? Alternatively, is His power finite with some things being outside His power? According to the majority of Islamic scholars, omnipotence, like all other divine attributes of perfection, is unlimited, boundless, and without restrictions. A range of Qur’anic verses also attest to this fact.
Throughout time, belief in the Absolute Power of God has met with various doubts and challenges. Here we shall explain and answer one of the most important challenges which is sometimes called the “omnipotence paradoxâ€‌.
The omnipotence paradox has diverse forms, all of which are based upon a single foundation. The most complex form of this paradox is delineation of a question in which at first glance, both negative and positive answers result in direct repudiation of omnipotence. For instance, it may be asked: Is God able to create a stone that He cannot lift? Or, one may enquire: Can God create a being that He is not able to annihilate? Upon contemplation of these questions, it seems that both a positive and a negative answer will result in refutation of the absoluteness of God’s power. We see that a positive answer to the first question signifies the possibility of the existence of a stone that God cannot lift and a negative answer to the same question would mean that God is powerless to create a specific stone!
Before presenting a solution to the omnipotence paradox, we must first explain types of “impossibilitiesâ€‌ which are divided into three groups: Essential Impossibility: That which is impossible per se with no other factor being involved. A contradiction is one of the most obvious forms of essential impossibility.
Accidental Impossibility: That which is not impossible per se, but whose occurrence necessitates realization of an essential impossibility. For example, the existence of an effect without a cause is an accidental impossibility because its realization necessitates a contradiction.26 Essential and accidental impossibilities are also called logical impossibilities.
Normal Impossibility: That the occurrence of which seems impossible with respect to known natural laws, but whose realization is neither essentially impossible nor necessitates an essential impossibility. Transformation of a wooden staff into a snake, curing the sick without medicine, and speech of inanimate beings are several examples of normal impossibilities.27
Bearing in mind the above explanations, God’s power does not encompass essential and accidental impossibilities, and all questions that are asked within the omnipotence paradox regarding the power of God in performing various acts are accidental impossibilities. For example, if we thoroughly contemplate the true nature of creation—which is called causality in philosophy—we realize that the Creator—i.e. the existence-giving cause—transcends all aspects of the creature—i.e. the effect. More specifically, the existence and all qualities and characteristics of creatures are dependant upon their Creator. Thus, supposing a creature whose creator cannot alter or destroy, necessitates supposing a situation in which the “creatorâ€‌ simultaneously be and not be the creator which is clearly a contradiction. Accordingly, creation of a stone that the creator cannot lift or creation of a being that the creator cannot destroy is an accidental impossibility and as we have already stated, Divine Power does not encompass accidental impossibilities.
It could be stated thus that the result of the above analysis is nothing but the acceptance of the finitude of God’s power, but it is essential to keep in mind that the exclusion of essential and accidental impossibilities from the realm of God’s power is in no way a limiting factor for divine power because essentially these things are not capable of being originated and therefore are beyond the encompassment of any type of power. Consequently, it is stated that, in essence, the definition of shay’ (thing) does not include logical impossibilities, and thus Qur’anic phrases such as “God is capable of all thingsâ€‌ are not subject to these impossibilities.28 In other words, the deficiency and limitation pertains to the “acceptantâ€‌ not the “subjectâ€‌.29
As a summary of our answer to the “omnipotence paradoxâ€‌, we could state that these paradoxes are logical impossibilities and thus cannot be associated with power. However, this non-association is not a fundamental flaw of divine power; on the contrary, the limitation is embedded in the nature of these things.
It is significant to note that in Islamic Traditions, the answers to various forms of the omnipotence paradox are indicative of the same answer that we have proposed. According to a Hadith, in reply to someone who asked: “Can your Lord place the world into an egg without shrinking the world or enlarging the egg?â€‌
Imam â€کAlī (â€کa) replied: “Verily, God, the Blessed, the Sublime, cannot be attributed with weakness; rather, what you have asked me cannot come to pass.â€‌30
According to the answer of Imam â€کAlī (â€کa), the objective of the question itself is an impossibility. However, he explains that this does not entail weakness and impotence in God; rather, it rises from the fact that the goal in question is logically impossible and thus, in essence, not capable of coming into being.
Notes:
1. - The philosophical basis of this reasoning is that knowledge and understanding require a type of encompassment of knowledge by the scholar and because a limited being cannot encompass an unlimited essence, no limited being can gain knowledge of an unlimited essence.
2. - أˆأ¥ أںأ¤أ¥ أگأ‡أٹأ” أژأ‘أڈ أˆأ‘أڈ آپأ­ أ‡آگأ‘ أ‘أ“أڈ أژأ“ أˆأ¥ أ‍أڑأ‘ أڈأ‘أ­أ‡
3. - Sūrah Ṭāhā 20:110. This interpretation is based upon the assumption that the Arabic pronoun “أ¥â€‌ (him/it) in the compound “أˆأ¶أ¥أ¶â€‌ (about him) refers to God.
4. - Alḥuwaīzī, Tafsīr-e Nūr u-Thaqalaīn, vol. 3, p. 394, Tradition 117.
5. - Sūrah Ḥashr 59:23-24.
6. - Utilization of the Qur’an in order to understand the attributes of God necessitates basic acceptance of several issues including the prophethood of Muḥammad

أ‡أ¶أ¤أ¸أ³ أ‡أ،أ،أ¥أ³ أڑأ،أ¬ أںأµأ،أ¸أ¶ أ”أ¬أپأ² أ‍أ³أڈأ­أ‘أ±