The Best Knowledge: The Knowledge and Speech of Allah

After explaining 11 of the 13 attributes of Allah that every accountable person must know, we will now explain the last 2 attributes among the 13; the attributes of Knowledge and Speech of Allah.

The Knowledge of Allah:

Let it be known that Allah, the Omniscient, knows everything. He knows everything with one knowledge comprehensive to all knowable things without exception. With His Knowledge, Allah knows what happened, what is happening, and what will happen. He knows all the details of everything. Allah is the only Being who knows everything; Prophet Muhammad and other creations do not know everything. Rather, Allah might reveal to Him or to some angels or others some of the future matters.

Proofs of the attribute of Knowledge of Allah:

Intellectual Proof: If Allah was not attributed with knowledge, this would imply He is attributed with ignorance, and ignorance is a weakness if attributed to Allah. Allah is Omniscient; He knows everything.

Textual Proofs:

it is mentioned in the Qur'an: ﴾ إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ ﴿, [Surat Al-Anfal:75]

The verse means: "Undoubtedly, Allah knows everything".

From the Hadith, when the Prophet was mentioning the ninety-nine Perfect Names of Allah that have a special merit if a person knew and memorized, he mentioned "العليم". The name "العليم" means: “The Omniscient; the One Who knows everything”.

Introduction to the explanation of the attribute of Speech of Allah:

The attribute of Speech is the most controversial attribute between Scholars of Islam and their opponents. This attribute has been discussed to the extent that the knowledge of the Essentials of Belief, that is, the knowledge about Allah and His attributes, and the attributes of the Prophets is called ^ilmul-Kalam (Kalam is the Arabic word for the word speech).

Regarding this attribute and some other attributes of Allah there are mainly 3 sects that discuss them, there are the anthropomorphists who regard Allah similar to His Creation, then there are the Mu^tazilah, who renounce the attribute of Speech and other attributes, and there are Ahlus-Sunnah wal Jama^ah (the ones who follow the guidance of the Prophet and His companions).

The Mu^tazilah go to the extreme of renouncing some attributes of the 13 attributes that every accountable person is required to know, thus this renunciation makes them Non-Muslims. The Anthropomorphists go to the other extreme which is regarding Allah similar to His creations. They say Allah's Speech is made up of letters sounds and languages, thus negating the attribute of Non-Resemblance to the creation, which also makes them Non-Muslims.

Then there are the people of justice and moderation, Ahlus-Sunnah wal Jama^ah, who believe and teach that Allah is attributed with Speech, a Speech unlike that of the creations. The Speech of which is Eternal, Everlasting, not a sound, not a letter, and not a language. The Speech of Allah does not have a beginning or an end; it is not letters or words that occur sequentially. The Speech of Allah is not similar to the speech of the creation.

Now we have given a brief introduction between what the Muslims say and believe about the Speech of Allah and what their adversaries say and believe. In our next blog, we will be explaining the attributes of Speech in depth and we will be refuting the Mu^tazilah and anthropomorphists by intellectual and textual proofs. We will also be discussing why the Muslims say the the Holy Book (The Qur'an) is called the Speech of God, and when we say "the Qur'an" this phrase has two meanings, which will be explained as well.

Stay tuned...