The 3 Intellectualities – Judgments of the mind

Praise be to Allah, and may Allah raise the rank of Prophet Muhammad and his Al and Companions, and protect his nation from that which he fears for it. Thereafter:

It is obligatory to believe in Allah and to know what is permissible to attribute to Him, what is necessary to be of His attributes, and what is impossible to be of His attributes. Also, it is obligatory to believe in the Messenger and to know what is befitting for him, what is permissible for him and the other prophets, what is necessary to be of their attributes, and what is impossible to be among their attributes. It is obligatory to declare these beliefs by the tongue by uttering The Testification of Faith (Two Shahadahs):

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which means: I know, believe and profess no one is God except Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

The one who does not believe in Allah and His Messenger is a blasphemer and shall enter Hell eternally.

Let it be known that the judgments of the mind are three kinds:

·         The intellectual necessity: This refers to what the mind does not conceive its non-existence, i.e., non-existence does not apply to its self. Allah is the One Whose Existence is necessary, because the mind does not accept His non-existence, i.e., non-existence does not apply to the Self of Allah.

·         The intellectual impossibility: This refers to what the mind does not conceive its existence, i.e., that to which existence does not apply. The existence of a partner with Allah is an intellectual impossibility, because existence does not apply to it, i.e., the mind does not conceive its existence.

·         The intellectual possibility: This refers to what the mind conceives its existence at one time and its non-existence at another time. This universe and its contents–among what we can see and what we cannot see–is an intellectual possibility. It is so because the mind conceives its existence after a state of non-existence. This is the state of the entire universe. For example, Allah made the human being exist after having been non-existent, and then this human being shall be annihilated (Annihilation of humans is by complete death, which is defined as the soul completely departing the body. The souls do not annihilate and some bodies do not decay in the soil.) This is why the human being’s existence is among the intellectual possibilities.

Allah, ta^ala, said

{وَللهِ الْمَثَلُ الأَعْلَىَ}

which means: Allah has attributes that do not resemble the attributes of others .

It is obligatory to believe the attributes of Allah are confirmed to Him. He who negates them is called an atheist. Hence, the one who does not believe in the Existence of Allah, i.e., the one who negates Allah’s attribute of Existence is called an atheist.

The attributes of Allah that are obligatory to believe in are confirmed to Him. They are not the Self of Allah nor other than the Self of Allah. Rather, we say they are attributes with which Allah is attributed and they are religiously and intellectually obligatory for Him. Imam an-Nasafiyy said: “His attributes are not Him nor other than Him.”

God (Allah) is the creator, He has no beginning.