The Seven Affirmative Attributes

These three categories are agreed upon; there is not much difference of opinion about these. This third category is the maʿānī. These are called affirmative attributes. There are seven; seven of them. Number one, life: ḥayāh. Number two, knowledge: ʿilm, or knowledge. Number three, irādah, or will. Number four, qudrah: power. Number five, samʿ: hearing. Number six, baṣar — bāʾ, ṣād, rāʾ — which means sight. And number seven, kalām: speech. This is the most discussed attribute of all of them, or perhaps it was, for a while. Kalām: speech.

To go through them again, for confirmation: ḥayāh, or life; ʿilm, knowledge; irādah, will; qudrah, power; samʿ, hearing; baṣar, sight; and kalām, speech.

Now look at this, and look at the second category. These attributes are also negating. Take baṣar, sight: does it not negate the fact that Allah cannot see? Take hearing: does that not negate the fact that He cannot hear? ʿIlm negates the fact that He is not knowing. So they are also negating attributes, in a sense. So why are they called affirmative attributes? It is worth looking over them, and over the second category, to work out what the difference is.

One answer that suggests itself is that they are like active attributes. That is right. Is there a more succinct way of saying it? What that answer says is correct.

Those which are purely negating attributes have no independent attribute there. Beginninglessness: there is no independent attribute there. Whereas with ʿilm, yes, it is negating jahālah, or ignorance, but it is an independent attribute. It is a quality that separates. So it is not part of the essence; it is not just the nature of the essence that is being spoken of; it is something that is different. That is where the whole question comes in: is it the essence itself, or is it not the essence? It is not the essence itself, as has been said; now, is it other than the essence? So that is what the difference is, though all of them do negate, obviously.