Chapter On Attribute Of Essence (Sifat al-DhDhat) Of Allah

he heard Aba 'Abdillah (al-Sadiq) (as) say: "Allah (azwj) has always been our Lord. Knowledge was His essence without anything known, hearing was His essence without anything heard, sight was His essence without anything seen, and power was His essence without anything within His power. Then, when He created things and there were things to be known, His knowledge applied to the known things, His hearing to the heard things, His sight to the seen things, and His power to the things within His power. I asked, "Has Allah always been in motion?" He replied, "Allah is exalted above that; indeed, motion is an attribute that is created through action." I asked, "Has Allah always been speaking?" He replied, "Speech is a created attribute, not eternal. Allah (azwj) existed without being a speaker."

he heard Abu Ja'far (al-Baqir) (as) say: "Allah (azwj) existed when nothing else existed. He eternally knows whatever comes into being. His knowledge of things before their coming into existence and afterwards is exactly the same."

"I wrote to Abu al-Hasan (al-Kadhim) (as) with a supplication containing, 'Praise be to God to the extent of His knowledge', so he wrote back to me saying: Do not say 'the extent of His knowledge,' for His knowledge has no end. Rather, say, 'the extent of His pleasure.'"

"Did He know things before creating and forming them, or did He not know them until He created and intended to create and form them, so He knew what He created when He created it and what He formed when He formed it?". He wrote in his own hand: "Allah has always known things before creating them, just as He knows them after creating them."

“I wrote to the man (the Imam) (as) saying: "Some of your followers have disagreed about the nature of knowledge. Some of them say that Allah has always been knowing before the creation of things, while others say that we should not say that Allah has always been knowing because "knows" implies "acts," and if we affirm knowledge, we are asserting the existence of something alongside Him in eternity. If you see fit, may Allah make me your ransom, please teach me something on this matter that I can firmly hold onto and not deviate from. He wrote in his own hand, "Allah has always been knowing. Blessed and exalted be His mention." (Allamah Al-Majlisi said: The response from Imam (as) was that He has always known, without addressing the fallacies in the argument against it, as they are too obvious to need elaboration.)

“I asked abu Ja‘far (a.s.), ‘May Allah take my soul in service for your cause, if you would consider it proper please enlighten me about whether Allah, Majestic is Whose face, had knowledge of His Oneness before He brought the creation into existence? Your followers differ on this issue. There are those who believe that Allah did have knowledge of His Oneness before He created anything. Others say His knowledge is His action. Thus, now Allah has come to know that before He created things there had been nothing besides He Himself. They say that if we believe in the eternal knowledge of Allah of His Oneness, we have established another thing eternal along with Him. If you would consider it proper please enlighten me in this issue so I may not waver here and there.” He wrote, “Allah, the Blessed and Exalted has always had the Knowledge of all things.” (See Hadith No. 294 – 53)