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# ”’Non-Existence”’: It is impossible for God not to exist. His existence is necessary.

# ”’Non-Existence”’: It is impossible for God not to exist. His existence is necessary.

# ”’Coming into Existence”’: It is impossible for God to have a beginning; He is eternal.

# ”’Coming into Existence”’: It is impossible for God to have a beginning He is eternal.

# ”’Perishability”’: It is impossible for God to cease to exist; He is perpetual and everlasting.

# ”’Perishability”’: It is impossible for God to cease to exist; He is perpetual and everlasting.

# ”’Resembling Creatures”’: It is impossible for God to be like His creation. This includes:

# ”’Resembling Creatures”’: It is impossible for God to be like His creation. This includes:

Revision as of 22:03, 21 October 2025

These are divided into three categories:

  1. The Necessary Attributes: Twenty attributes that must be affirmed for God, as they pertain to His perfection (e.g., Existence, Oneness, Power, Knowledge).
  2. The Impossible Attributes: Twenty attributes that are absolutely impossible to ascribe to God, as they denote imperfection, limitation, or creaturely characteristics. These are the direct opposites of the Necessary Attributes.
  3. The Possible Attributes: Attributes related to God’s actions, which are possible for Him to do or not to do, based on His will (e.g., rewarding or punishing, sending messengers).

Necessary attributes

Twenty Necessary Attributes
One intrinsic attribute: Existence: The dominant Ash’ari school holds that existence is not an additional attribute separate from God’s essence. God’s existence is identical to His essence itself. Therefore, it is not considered a distinct attribute. This contrasts with the view of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, who held that existence is a real attribute additional to God’s essence. However, since language necessitates describing His essence as ‘existent,’ some Ash’ari scholars include it among the attributes for clarity and ease of understanding.
Five negational attributes (i.e., they negate any deficiency):
  1. Pre-eternality: He has no beginning.
  2. Everlasting perpetuity: His existence has no end.
  3. Transcendence beyond all contingents: He is absolutely unlike His creation.
  4. Self-subsistence: He does not need a place or a specifier.
  5. Oneness: He is absolutely one, singular in essence, unique in attributes, and sovereign in actions.
Seven essential attributes: Seven predicative attributes:
1. Power: Over all possible things. 1. Being Powerful: As a result of the attribute of Power.
2. Will: Encompassing all possible things. 2. Being Willing: As a result of the attribute of Will.
3. Knowledge: Encompassing all necessary, possible, and impossible matters. 3. Being Knowing: As a result of the attribute of Knowledge.
4. Life: Itself is not related to anything, but is the foundation for other attributes. 4. Being Living: As a result of the attribute of Life.
5. Hearing: Encompassing all existent things. 5. Being Hearing: As a result of the attribute of Hearing.
6. Sight: Encompassing all existent things. 6. Being Seeing: As a result of the attribute of Sight.
7. Speech: It is neither letters nor sound, and it pertains to everything that can be known. 7. Being Speaking: As a result of the attribute of Speech.

Impossible attributes

These attributes are the direct opposites of the 20 “Necessary” or “Obligatory” attributes that define God’s perfection. Denying these imperfections maintains the concept of a transcendent, absolutely perfect Creator.

Twenty Impossible Attributes
  1. Non-Existence: It is impossible for God not to exist. His existence is necessary.
  2. Coming into Existence: It is impossible for God to have a beginning, as He is eternal and uncreated.
  3. Perishability: It is impossible for God to cease to exist; He is perpetual and everlasting.
  4. Resembling Creatures: It is impossible for God to be like His creation. This includes:
    1. Being a Body: God is not a physical entity that occupies space.
    2. Being an Accident (a quality that depends on a body): He is not a temporary quality that depends on something else (like color depends on an object).
    3. Being in a Direction: God is not “above,” “below,” or “inside” the universe. He is not confined to any spatial direction.
    4. Having a Direction: He does not possess spatial dimensions like length, width, or depth.
    5. Being Bound by Place or Time: God is not limited by or contained within a specific location or a moment in time.
    6. Change in His Essence:[Note 1] His eternal essence is not a substrate for temporary events or qualities.
    7. Being Characterized by Smallness or Largeness: He cannot be described by physical size, as this is a property of created things.
  5. Not Self-Subsisting:[Note 2] It is impossible for God to not be self-sufficient. His existence depends neither on a carrier (substratum) nor a cause, and He requires no external agent to specify His actions or define His nature. He is absolutely independent.
  6. Not Being One: It is impossible for God not to be absolutely one. This means He cannot be:
    1. Being Composite: God’s essence is not a compound or a collection of parts.
    2. Having a Equal or Similar: Nothing is equal or similar to Him in His essence, attributes, or actions.
    3. Having a Partner in Creation: There is no other creator or co-creator alongside Him.
Seven impossible opposites of essential attributes: Seven impossible opposites of predicative attributes:
1. Incapacity: It is impossible for God to be incapable or powerless over anything that is logically possible. His power is absolute and limitless. 1. Being Incapable: It is impossible as the opposite of being Powerful.
2. Compulsion: It is impossible for God to act against His own will. He does not create something while “hating” its existence (i.e., against His will) or being forced to do it. Every act of creation is a deliberate act of His sovereign will. 2. Being Compelled: It is impossible as the opposite of being Willing.
3. Ignorance: It is impossible for God to be ignorant, to learn, to be in doubt, to forget, or to need to figure anything out. His knowledge is all-encompassing—including the past, present, future, and all hypothetical scenarios. 3. Being Ignorant: It is impossible as the opposite of being Knowing.
4. Death: It is impossible for God to die or cease to exist. He is the Ever-Living, the one who grants life and is the source of all life. 4. Being Dead: It is impossible as the opposite of being Living.
5. Deafness: It is impossible for God to be deaf. His hearing is all-encompassing, perceiving everything without the need for sound waves or physical ears. 5. Being Deaf: It is impossible as the opposite of being Hearing.
6. Blindness: It is impossible for God to be blind. His sight encompasses all things, without needing eyes or light. 6. Being Blind: It is impossible as the opposite of being Seeing.
7. Muteness: It is impossible for God to be mute. His speech is an eternal and uncreated divine attribute, distinct from human speech. It is not composed of letters, sounds, language, melody, grammatical structure, or any temporal sequence. Rather, it is a profound meaning established in His essence, through which He reveals His will—as He did when He spoke to Moses.[Note 3] 7. Being Mute: It is impossible as the opposite of being Speaking.

These 20 impossible attributes serve to protect the Islamic concept of God’s absolute transcendence (tanzih). They affirm that the Creator is fundamentally different from His creation—free from all limitations, needs, imperfections, and comparisons. This understanding leads to a pure monotheism where God alone is worthy of worship.

Possible attributes

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