In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

All praise is due to Allah.

Blessings and Peace be upon the Messenger of Allah.

Know, that rational judgements are encapsulated within three categories: necessity, impossibility, and possibility.

Necessity: is what the intellect cannot conceptualize its absence.

Impossible: is what the intellect cannot conceptualize its existence.

Possibility: is what is valid for the intellect to conceptualize its existence or absence.

It is scripturally obligatory on every moral agent to know what is necessary in the right of Our Lord, Glory and Exalted is He, and what is impossible, and what is possible [for Him].

Likewise, it is obligatory to know the likes in the right of the Messengers, upon them be blessings and peace.

From what is necessary for Our Lord, Glorious and Exalted is He, is twenty attributes, and they are:

Existence.

Pre-Eternality.

Permanence.

Differing from creation.

His existing independently, i.e., not needing a substrate or creator.

Oneness, i.e., there is no secondary to His essence, nor His attributes, nor His actions.

These are six attributes.

The first is the [attribute] of Identity.

The five after it are negative attributes.

Then, it is necessary for Him, the Exalted, seven attributes, called the Attributes of Meaning. They are:

Power, Will, and they relate to all possibilities.

Knowledge, relating to all necessities, possibilities, and impossibilities.

Life, and it does not relate to anything.

Hearing and Seeing, relating to all existing things.

Speech, which is not composed of letter or sound, and it relates to everything that the Knowledge relates to.

Then, there are seven attributes called the abstract attributes that are connected with the first seven attributes. They are:

His being: Powerful, Willing, Knowledgeable, Living, Hearing, Seeing, and Speaking.

From among what is impossible in His right, Exalted is He, is twenty attributes. They are the opposite of the first twenty attributes. They are:

Non-existence.

Having a beginning.

Ceasing to exist.

Resembling creation by being a body, i.e., His exalted essence taking up space, or by being an accident that occupies a body, or by being in the direction of a body, or He himself being a direction, or limited to a space or time, or His lofty essence being attributed with temporal things, or being attributed with smallness or largeness, or being attributed with having causal motives [aghrad] in His actions or rulings.

Likewise, it is impossible for Him to not be independent, by being an attribute that subsists in a locus or requiring a creator.

Likewise, it is impossible upon Him, the Exalted, that He not be one, by being composed of parts in His essence, or that He has a counterpart rivaling His essence, or His attributes, or there being alongside Him another existence that has causal efficacy in any action.

Likewise, it is impossible for Him, the Exalted, to be unable to do anything possible, or to being compelled to create something in the universe, i.e., Him lacking volition to do it, or doing it forgetfully or absentmindedly, or due to a causal motive, or an intrinsic nature.

Likewise, it is impossible for Him, the Exalted, to have ignorance or what is equivalent to it in anything known, as well as death, deafness, blindness, and muteness.

The opposites of the abstract attributes are clear from these.

As for what is possible in His Exalted right, it is doing anything that is possible or not doing it.

As for the proof for His Existence, the Exalted: it is the temporality of the universe. This is because if it were not to have a beginning and instead have created itself, it would necessitate that one out of two equally possible matters [existence and non-existence] became more possible than the other without any cause, and this is an impossibility.

The proof that the universe is temporal is its logical inseparability from accidents which are temporal: movement, stillness, etc., and anything logically inseparable from something temporal must also be temporal.

The proof that accidents are temporal is first-hand witnessing of their going from not existing to existing and their going from existing into not existing.

As for the proof of the necessity of pre-eternality for Him, the Exalted, is because were He not to be pre-eternal, He would be temporal and would require a creator. This would necessitate a vicious cycle or infinite regress.

As for the proof of the necessity of permanence for Him, the Exalted, it is because if it were possible for Him to be overcome by non-existence, it would nullify His pre-eternality, because then His existence would be a possibility, not a necessity. And possibilities cannot exist except by being created. And how could this be [coherent], when the [proof of the] necessity of His pre-eternality was just mentioned.

As for the proof of the necessity of His differing from temporal things, it is because if He were to resemble anything of them, He would be temporal like them, and this is impossible as you learned previously from the necessity of His pre-eternality and His permanence.

As for the proof of the necessity of Him being independent, it is because if He, the Exalted, were to depend on a substrate, then He would be an attribute, and an attribute cannot itself be attributed with positive attributes, nor abstract ones. It is necessary for Our Lord to be attributed with them, so therefore He is not an attribute. If He depended on a creator, He would be temporal. And how could this be [coherent] when the proof of the necessity of His pre-eternality and permanence were just established.

As for the proof of the necessity of His Oneness, it is because were He not to be one, it would necessitate that nothing of the universe could exist due to it leading to inability therein.

As for the proof of His being attributed with power, will, knowledge, and life, it is because if any of those were to be absent, no created thing could exist.

As for the proof of the necessity of His hearing, sight, and speech, it is from the Book, Sunnah, and scholarly consensus. Also, it is because were He not to be attributed with them, it would necessitate that He is attributed with their opposites, which are deficiencies, and deficiencies are impossible upon Him, the Exalted.

As for the proof of doing actions or not doing them being possible in His right, then it is because were it rationally necessary for Him to do something, or rationally impossible, the possible would become necessary or impossible, and that is unintelligible.

As for the Messengers, peace be upon them:

It is necessary in their right: truthfulness, integrity, and conveying what they were ordered to convey to creation.

It is impossible in their right, blessings and peace be upon them, to have the opposites of these attributes. They are lying, treachery by doing something they were prohibited to do, whether the prohibition was haram or disliked, or concealing part of what they were commanded to convey to the creation.

It is possible in their right, blessings and peace be upon them, whatever is from the states of humanity that do not lead to a decrease in their lofty rank, such as sickness and the likes.

As for the proof of the necessity of their truthfulness, blessings and peace be upon them, it is because were they not to be truthful, it would necessitate falsehood in His reports, due to His affirmation of them by way of miracles that take the place of Him saying "my slave is truthful in everything that He conveys from me."

As for the proof of the necessity of integrity for them, blessings and peace be upon them, it is because were they to be treacherous by doing something forbidden or disliked, the forbidden or disliked thing would turn into an act of obedience in their right because Allah, the Exalted, commanded us to follow them in their words and actions, and Allah does not command to do forbidden or disliked things. This is exactly the same proof for the third obligation [of conveying the Message].

As for the proof of the possibility of them having human states, it is the firsthand witnessing of them going through them, either for the increase of their reward, or for the purpose of legislation, or to find consolation from the dunya, or to remind of its meager value with Allah, the Exalted, and the lack of His pleasure for it being a place of reward for His Prophets and saints, with respect to their states in it, upon them be blessings and peace.

The statement there is no God but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah encapsulates all the meanings of the creed.

Because the meaning of divinity (ألوهية) is: the independence of God from everything other than Him, and the dependence of everything other than Him upon Him.

So the meaning, there is no God except Allah is: there is nothing independent from everything other than itself and everyone other than itself is reliant upon it, except Allah, the Exalted.

As for His independence from everything other than Him, it necessitates from Him: existence, pre-eternality, permanence, differing from creation, independence, and being transcendent of all deficiencies.

Included in this is also the necessity of Hearing for Him, Sight, and Speech, since if these attributes were not necessary for Him, He would rely on created things, a substrate, or someone who could remove these deficiencies from Him.

Derived from this is His transcendence from ulterior motives in His actions and judgments. Otherwise, it would necessitate His dependance on what His motive produced. How could this be when He, the Mighty and High, is independent on everything other than Him.

Derived from this as well is that it is not necessary for Him to do any rational possibility or to refrain from it, because if it were rationally necessary upon Him, the Exalted, to do something such as giving rewards, for example, He, the Mighty and High, would be dependent on that action in order for His ulterior motive to be completed. This is because nothing except what is a perfection is necessary in His right. How could this be, when He, the Mighty and High, is independent of everything other than Him.

As for the dependence of everything other than Him upon Him, the Mighty and High, it necessitates for Him Life and complete Power, Will, and Knowledge. This is because if any of these did not exist, it would not be possible for any temporal thing to exist, and then nothing would depend on Him. How could this be, when everything other than Him relies upon Him?

It also necessitates for Him, the Exalted, Oneness. This is because were there a second who shared in Divinity, nothing would depend upon Him due to it necessitating both of their inability therein. How could this be, when everything other than Him relies upon Him?

Also taken from this is the temporality of the entire universe. This is because if anything were pre-eternal from it, that thing would be independent of Him, the Exalted. How could this be, when He is the One who everything else depends upon.

Also taken from this is that there is no causal efficacy of anything in existence for any effect. Otherwise, it would necessitate the independence of that effect of Our Lord, the Mighty and High. How could this be, when everything other than Him is totally dependent upon Him in every case.

This [is in the case] of if you assessed that things have causal efficacy by their intrinsic nature. As for if you assess that they have causal efficacy by a power placed in them by Allah as is alleged by many of the ignorant, this is also impossible. This is because Our Lord, Mighty and High, would then be in need of an intermediary in order to create some actions, and this is invalid as you know from the necessity of His independence from everything other than Him.

It will be clear to you that the statement "there is no God but Allah contains the three categories that are necessary for the moral agent to know in His right, the Mighty and High. They are:

what is necessary in His right, what is impossible, and what is possible.

As for our saying, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, blessings and peace be upon him, it includes belief in all the Prophets, Angels, Divine Scripture, and the Last Day, because He, blessings and peace be upon him, came to affirm all of these.

Derived from it is also the necessity of the truthfulness of the Messengers, upon them be blessings and peace, and the impossibility of them lying. This is because otherwise, they would not be Messengers entrusted by Our Lord, the Knower of all hidden things, the Mighty and High.

And [also known from the statement] is the impossibility of all prohibited actions for them, because they were sent to teach the people with their speech, action, and tacit approval. This necessitates that there is no deviation from the command of Our Lord, the Mighty and High, who selected them over the rest of His creation and entrusted them with the secret of His revelation.

Also derived from this is the possibility of human traits for them, as this does not diminish from their Prophethood and the loftiness of their rank with Allah, the Exalted. Rather, this is what He willed.