| layout | title | part | chapter | order | nav | highlights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
chaptersummary |
Chapter 59 |
1 |
59 |
20 |
true |
impossibility of grasping essence of God |
there is no possibility of obtaining a knowledge of the true essence of God (حقيقة ذاته), and ... the only thing that man can apprehend of Him is the fact that He exists, and that all positive attributes are inadmissible
- some discussion of how knolwedge of God can still be progressively approached; "by each additional negative attribute you advance toward the knolwedge of God, and you are nearer to it than he who does not negative [it]"
- affirming positive attributes to God goes wrong on two accounts: 1) any positive attribute that we can imagine and wish to ascribe to God is only a perfection in relation to us; 2) God is pure existence, and does not possess anything superadded to his essence
[since] negations do not convey a true idea of the being to which they refer, all people, both of past and present generations, delcared that God cannot be the object of human comprehension, that none but Himself comprehends what He is, and that our knolwedge consists in knowing that we are unable truly to comprehend Him
This is why the best course of action is silence: Psalms LXV.2 "Silence is praise to Thee", since any praise uttered by human beings will necessarily be inadequate and inappropriate for God, who is above all description.