Knowing Allāh by al-Imām al-Nāsir lī al-Ḥaqq
⭐️ - al-Imām al-Nāsir lī al-Ḥaqq al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī b. Umar b. ʿAlī b. al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib (a.s) said:
💠 Knowing Allāh 💠
The beginning of worship is to have knowledge of Allāh (Exalted is He), that He is a Kind, Merciful, and Generous creator. The pillar of knowing your Lord is through belief in His unification, glorifying Him, and distancing Him from the belief that He has anything that is similar to Him, contrary to Him, or equal to Him. The completion of unifying Him is to negate Him having any physical attributes, or similarities to His creation. This is the testification of every sound intellect - that is free from an impediment that he may garner, a slander that he may enunciate, and commit; following vain desires, and hegemony - every feature, and description is created; this is by the testification of every created thing, because for it there is an originator.
And by the testification of every creation that its creator does not resemble it, and by the testification of every description, or thing that is described is its possibility of separation, or [origination through] creation. And by the testification of every created thing is that it is impossible for it to be eternal, verily Allāh (Glorious is He) will not be known through the description of other than what He described Himself to be. One has not worshiped Him who likens Him to His actions, nor His reality one will reach by describing Him through a limitation, nor His self-sufficiency will one reach by pointing towards Him.
For, all that is known in and of itself is created, and all that is held by other than itself is dependent; through the creations of Allāh, and His signs one is to draw inferences, and say: He is the One, not that there is a second to Him in computation, or enumeration. Through the sound intellects He is reached, and known that He is the originator of things, and to Him do the intellects return, and sustain. Allāh (Blessed is His remembrance) said: {He ˹fully˺ knows what is ahead of them and what is behind them, but they cannot encompass Him in ˹their˺ knowledge} [20: 110].
By the inability of everything to do what He has done, the people of knowledge have reached certitude that there is none like the Doer. Verily, ignorant is the one who describes Him, an end to Him one has made by likening Him, and he who says: How [He is] has likened Him, and he who says: Why [He is] has rendered Him dependent, and he who says: When [is He]? Has limited Him in time, and he who says: In what [is He]? Has contained him, and he who says: What is inevitable [for Him]? Has made for Him a goal, and he who makes for Him a goal has caused Him to separate into parts.
He who separates Him into parts has become ignorant of Him, and associated partners with Him; disbelieving in His names, for He (Glorious is He) is One, not through means of counting. He manifests Himself to His creation, but not through means of being seen. He is apparent, but not through sight. He is contrasting, but not through evasion. He is near, but not through drawing closer. He is Kind, but not through physical expression. He is existent, not after being non-existent. He acts, without there being a call for Him to act. He preportionates without movement, He wants without need. He conducts affairs without the need to think, He sees, and hears without an instrument. For Him there is no mate, or son, and nothing is comparable to Him. It is as He described Himself (Glorious and Exalted is He): {˹He is˺ the Originator of the heavens and earth. How could He have children when He has no mate? He created all things and has ˹perfect˺ knowledge of everything [101] That is Allāh—your Lord! There is no god ˹worthy of worship˺ except Him. ˹He is˺ the Creator of all things, so worship Him ˹alone˺. And He is the Maintainer of everything [102] No vision can encompass Him, but He encompasses all vision. For He is the Most Subtle, All-Aware} [6:101-103].
By His creating the essence, it is known that He has no essence. By His creating contraries between things, it is known that He has no contrary. By His comparison between things, it is known that there is nothing comparable to Him. As such, He (Blessed is His remembrance) says: {And We created pairs of all things so perhaps you would be mindful} [51:49]. He has no partner in what He does, His action is distinguished from the act, and His cause is distinguished from what is caused. He (Glorious is He) said: {Allāh has never had ˹any˺ offspring, nor is there any god besides Him. Otherwise, each god would have taken away what he created, and they would have tried to dominate one another. Glorified is Allāh above what they claim! [91] ˹He is the˺ Knower of the seen and unseen. Exalted is He above what they associate ˹with Him˺} [23:91-92].
And He (Glorious and Exalted is He) said: {Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “Had there been other gods besides Him—as they claim—then they would have certainly sought a way to ˹challenge˺ the Lord of the Throne.” [42] Glorified and Highly Exalted is He above what they claim!} [17:42-43]. Therefore, whoever takes a Lord besides Him from among the polytheists, they will find among their gods, incapability, and humiliation. Due to worshiping other than Allāh (Exalted is He), they will be upon certainty regarding their humiliation in face of all the attributes which He described for Himself.
The evidence of Him being all-Knowledgeable, and all-Aware for those who have come to understand, and know is His saying (Glorious is He) as an additional proof, and a severing of the arguments of the people of misguidance, and transgression: {Or have they taken gods from the earth, who can raise the dead? [21] Had there been other gods besides Allāh in the heavens or the earth, both ˹realms˺ would have surely been corrupted. So Glorified is Allāh, Lord of the Throne, far above what they claim [22] He cannot be questioned about what He does, but they will ˹all˺ be questioned} [21:21-23].
Blessed is He, Allāh, the best of creators. He is the sustainer, and the one who grants success to the religion. He is the one who bestows understanding within it, ensuring certitude. All praise is due to Allāh, Lord of the worlds, and may His peace, and blessings be upon Muḥammad, and His Ahl al-Bayt.
📘 - al-Biṣāṭ