Allah The Exalted — Page 30
not powerful and were helpless, nothing could be ex- pected of Him. Then He says: 31 32 He is the Sustainer of all the worlds. He is Gracious, Merciful and Master of the Day of Judgement, and has not delegated His power to anyone else. He hears the call of everyone who calls on Him and re- sponds to it, that is to say, He accepts prayers. Then He says: 33 which means that He is the Ever-Living and All-Sustaining. If He were not Ever- Living there would be the fear lest He might die before us. Then it is said that He is Single, has no father and no son and no equal and no peer 34. [Isl a m i U su l k i Philosophy, R uha n i Khaz a ’in, Vol. 10, pp. 372-376] Four Principal Attributes of All a h God Almighty has four principal attributes which may be called the mothers of all attributes. Every one of them makes a demand upon our humanness. These four are Rub u biyyat, Ra h m a niyyat, Ra hi miyyat and M a likiyyat of the Day of Judgement. For its manifestation, Rub u biyyat demands nothingness, or a state resembling nothingness. Every form of crea- tion, whether animate or inanimate, comes into being through it. 31 al-F a ti h ah, 1:2-4 [Publisher] 32 al-Baqarah, 2:187 [Publisher] 33 al-Baqarah, 2:256 [Publisher] 34 al-Ikhl as , 112:2-5 [Publisher] 30