03 Nov The Positive or Affirmative Attributes.Part5
7. Kalam (Speech)
Speech is another of the All-Exalted God’s Affirmative Attributes, Which marks His Perfection.
▪All religious commands and all decrees and directions that come on different wavelengths in the form of Revelation and inspiration, with their unique nature, have originated from that Attribute. In many verses like the following, the Qur’an not only presents the Attribute of Speech explicitly or implicitly, but also reminds us of the fact that all Divine Words that issued from His Attribute of Speech and Which were manifested in the form of Revelation were of the same basic nature for all Prophets:
Of those Messengers, some We have exalted above others (in some respects). Among them are those to whom God spoke (in a peculiar fashion), and He raised some others in degrees. (2:253)
It is not for any mortal that God should speak to him unless it be by Revelation or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger (angel) to reveal, by His leave, whatever He wills (to reveal). Surely He is All-Exalted, All-Wise. (42:51)
And Messengers We have already told you of before, and Messengers We have not told you of; and God addressed Moses and spoke to Him. (4:164)
And He revealed to His servant what He revealed. (53:10)
We have revealed to you (O Messenger), as We revealed to Noah and the Prophets after him; and We revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Prophets who were raised in the tribes among his progeny, and Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon; and We gave David the Psalms. (4:163).
And just so We reveal to you a Qur’an (a Recitation) in Arabic so that you may warn the mother-city and all those around it. (42:7)
▪The noble Qur’an is a manifestation of Divine Speech in keeping with the time from when it began to be revealed to the Day of Resurrection, and with the Prophet to whom it was ad dressed, and to the community to which it was sent. Divine Speech manifested Itself in the particular form of a Divine Book for each community in which It was revealed. Both the Attribute of Divine Speech, Which is the source of the Divine Books, and the Divine Books in their essence are eternal in the past. So, on account of their essence, which is described as “God’s speech to or in Himself,” none of the Divine Books are created. However, their written forms as books or their recitations are created. Their written forms and recitations are described as “the Speech in words.”
▪If there is a Divine Book Which originated from the Divine Attribute of Speech and has remained intact in its original form, it is the noble Qur’an. From the very first day when it began to be revealed, it has remained without undergoing the least change, thanks to God’s protection and the sincere efforts of its faithful followers. The richness of its contents, the conservation of its freshness as if it was being revealed anew in every age, and its power and profundity in solving all spiritual, emotional, mental, economic, social, administrational, and political problems, are another guarantee for its indispensability. It is for this reason that what is meant and reminded of by the phrase “the Divine Word” has generally been the noble Qur’an.
8. Takwin (Making Exist)
Takwin, which means making or causing to exist, according to the Maturidis, is the eighth of the Affirmative Attributes of God Almighty.
God is the Creator of everything, and the Attribute of Making Exist is the Attribute of Glory that is the origin of this creation.
▪The All-Exalted Creator, Who introduces Himself as the Creator of the heavens and the earth, prepares everything He creates for existence through His all-encompassing Knowledge, His all-embracing Will, Which determines what will be sent into the arena of existence and when, where, and with what characteristics, and His all-overwhelming Power, Which is all-able to do whatever His Will determines; and He finally refers this to the veil of His Attribute of Making Exist.
▪The whole universe with whatever is in it, everything animate or inanimate, all with different designs, styles, and natures, comes into existence through His creation, invention, and origination. The sacred Attributes are veils before this Act of God Almighty, and the Attribute of Making Exist is another curtain before the Will and the Power. Everything of contingency is established within a broad frame by the Knowledge; the Will selects between many probabilities, while the Power marks its possibility to be or to come into existence, and the Attribute of Making Exist manufactures it on Its own immaterial workbench, presenting what has been created to the View of the Eternal Witness.
▪Making Exist is, according to the Maturidis, among the independent, eternal, and substantial Affirmative Attributes. The Ash‘aris’ approach is slightly different; according to them, this Attribute is of nominal or relative existence. For if something which the Divine Will has judged to exist is brought into existence through the Power and Will, there is no further need for Making Exist. The Ash‘aris have this same approach for other Attributes of actions that relate to Making Exist. They view them as Attributes that are not eternal in the past, but which emerged later; they explain every occurrence with the Power and Will. However, it is God Who knows best.
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