A Comparative Study of the Confinement of God's Names and Attributes

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Student in Islamic Sufism and Mysticism, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Mysticism, Faculty of Wisdom and Religion, Research Institute for Islamic Culture and Thought, Qom, Iran

Abstract

One of the issues that arises among scholars about God's names and attributes is whether they are confined or not, in other words, can we ascribe any names and attributes to God or only the names and attributes mentioned in religious texts are allowed to ascribe to Him? There are four views on this issue: 1. The confinement of the names and attributes, in which most Asharites, Sheikh Mofid of Imamiyyah as well as Ibadiyyah and Maturidiyyah believe 2. The non-confinement of the names and attributes, which most Twelver Shias, Mutazilites, philosophers and mystics maintain 3. The confinement of the names and non-confinement of the attributes, which is stated by some of the Asharites, such as al-Ghazali and Fakhr al-Razi, as well as Allameh Helli and Mir Damad of Imamiyyah. This view can also be deduced from Maturidi's words 4. Those who believe in prevention such as Jovini of the Asharites. In the terminology of philosophers and mystics, Esm (name) means the external truths that are interpreted as Esm Takwini (generative names) and the meaning of Tawghifiyat (confinement) is that no truth exceeds its homeland and rank. This research has achieved the above results by descriptive-analytical method.

Keywords

References

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