5) God's Knowledge, Power, & Will

Revised on April 14 2011

We now know that everything in the entire universe falls under the category of 'that which is possible.'
We also know that everything that is possible requires something that it necessary so that it can exist as a possibility.

We know that God is the Necessary Existent. Without God there would be no existence. Nothing would exist.

God's Knowledge

God's Knowledge, the 2nd essential attribute, encompasses all 3 categories: the Impossible, the Possible, and the Necessary.

God's knowledge, unlike ours, is not learned. God does not learn new things, God already knows everything. He knows things before they happen, as they happen, and after they happen. In fact, in order for something to exist God needs to have full knowledge of it; how can God create something He doesn't know? He doesn't. Creating something He doesn't know is an "Impossibility."

God's knowledge spans everything, the Possible, Impossible, and Necessary.

God's Might/Power

Along with having knowledge of what He will create, God has to have the Power to create it. This Divine Power is the 3rd essential attribute. All Possible things, everything that is created, is contingent upon the Knowledge and the Power of God.

God's Power is only related to that which is Possible, not with the Impossible or Necessary.

God's Will
There is a 4th essential attribute that God has to have in order for us and the entire universe to exist.  That attribute is the 'Will'.

God's Will is only related to that which is Possible, not with the Impossible or Necessary.

The 4 essential attributes we mentioned thus far are:

1- Existence
2- Absolute Knowledge
3- Absolute Power
4- The Will to create or not create
 

Only through those 4 attributes can existence exist. As such, nothing exists in the entire universe except that God wills it to happen. Nothing can happen without God willing it.

Know that God's Knowledge is not what makes things happen. God's knowledge is an attribute that Knows-All, but does not affect anything.
God's Power is an attribute that affects everything but is not the attribute through which things are known.
It is through God's Will that something God knows is brought into existence by His Divine Might and Power.

Note: 
 God has tied our intentions to His Will and Power. When we intend to do something, we "summon" it. Our intentions are connecting to God's Will and Power in that, when we want to do something He creates that thing we intend to do.

God knows what we want to do, but He doesn't create it until we take the decision ourselves to do it. That is why we are held to account for our actions, because God does not force upon us our good or bad deeds, He creates that which we decide we want even though He has prior knowledge of what we will decide to do.

That is where the aspect of 'Success' (توفيق tawfeeq) comes in. God gives some people more success than others in this life and the next. What that means is that God creates that which the human intends to do with varying degrees, He creates and facilitates somethings for some more than others.  If God does not Will something to happen He won't create the thing that the human intends to do.

[I'll post more on 'success' later God willing.]


Note: New readers should start reading from Categorizing Reality onwards before reading this post.