Islam for beginners| part one| 7- Attributes of "oldness, immortality, contradiction to imagination, and standing for the self” that are obligatory for God Almighty.

     We talked - in the past – about defining the departments of the divine attributes, then we talked about the attribute of oneness, and we have already spoken in the beginnings about the attribute of existence.      Here we are talking about the rest of the negative attributes - and we have previously explained that the negative attribute is the one that negates the opposite of what is described - namely, oldness, survival, and contradiction to imagination.

     "Oldness" by that, we mean that God has no priority for his existence, for time and space have a beginning, and therefore the Creator cannot be limited to any of his creatures, He cannot submit to time and space because they are existed after the Creator, not before Him.      The Creator does not have a beginning, because if He had a beginning, then this means that He is preceded by nothingness before Him, and this precedence with nothingness indicates that the Creator needed in His existence for an existent, so this Creator becomes a creature and this God becomes impotent.. just as the Creator is not subject to change..because change It contradicts oldness, for change is something that requires a changer, and God is above need, because it is impotence, so the oldness cannot be described by any of the characteristics of the creatures.

     " immortality" by which we mean that the Creator does not have an afterlife for his existence, so he has no end, because the one who accepts the non-existence and the end cannot be a god. Who cannot remain in existence is impotent, and this impotent person is not fit to be a god.

      The Qur’an has shown us that, so God Almighty said: “He is the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward.”      It was from the saying of the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, in his supplication: “Oh God, you are the First, there is nothing before you, and you are the Last, there is nothing after you, and you are the Outward, there is nothing above you, and you are the Inward, there is nothing below you.”

     "Contradiction to imagination" we mean that God is not like any of the creatures, so whatever comes to your mind, God is different from that, and we have talked about this issue and have given examples of it.  For example, when we hear in some texts attributing joy or anger to God, then we say that God gets angry and is satisfied, not as humans get angry and they are satisfied, and when we say that the Most Merciful is established on the Throne, not like the created beings, and we say that God hears, sees, knows, be able, and wills, not as humans and other creatures are characterized.

      Everything that characterizes human beings does not characterize the Creator of mankind. Realities are different between the Creator and the creature. The reality of God’s essence is not the same as the reality of created beings, and also the realities of divine attributes are not like the realities of human attributes.

     We say God exists and I exist, and God is generous and you are generous, and God is merciful and a person is merciful, but existence, generosity, and compassion in the right of God are not like existence, generosity and compassion in our right.      God is not a body and cannot be incarnate; This belief is infidelity that God forbids, because bodies are created and it is impossible for God to be a creator and a creature at the same time. 

     If God was like us, it would be permissible for Him to do what is permissible for us like change and need. Change and need are two things that are impossible for God, because change needs an external factor to bring it, and need is indicative of helplessness and weakness, and whoever is in need of something to change him, or if he is helpless and weak, then he is not fit to be a god.

      "Standing for the self" is an attribute by which we mean that God is independent of everything and never needs anything; He is not in need of another essence to dwell in, and He is not in need of something that creates Him from nothingness.      The evidence for this attribute from the Qur’an is the Almighty’s saying: “And God is the Rich, and you are the poor.” For God’s richness necessitates that he never needs anything, because the needy for something is not indispensable.