Imam Reza (as) On Divine Unity-part 7

Imam Reza (as) is reported to have stated the following in his sermon on Divine Unity:
”مَوْجُودٌ لا بَعْدَ عَدَمٍ“
translation: “(God is) Existent, not after nonexistence” [Uyun-al-Akhbar,chapter#11,hadith#51]

The temporal-non-existence [عدم زمانی] of a thing means that there was a period of time [زمان] prior to the existence of the thing in which that thing was non-existent [معدوم] and then subsequently came into being [وجود] where its non-being [عدم] prior to its coming into being is evidence of the fact that existence is not integral to and inseparable from, the essence [ذات] of the thing, because had existence been identical and integral [عين ذات] to the essence of the thing so it would never have been non-existent and there would not have been any period of time in which the said thing was non-existent, and consequently that thing would have been a Necessary Existent [واجب الوجود] ; but the previous non-existence of the thing is proof of the fact that existence is accidental and additional to its essence [زايد بر ذات], occurring to the essence due to a cause [علت] other than that essence, and everything to which existence occurs from a cause external to and other than that thing is contingent in essence [ممکن بالذات], inclined neither towards being nor non-being, but for which both existence and non-existence are possible, but neither being necessary for the essence by virtue of the essence itself, because that which is necessary for a thing by reason of its essence can never be separate from it whereas the separation of existence from the essence of a thing, as is evidenced by its prior non-existence, is proof of existence not being necessary for that essence ; and that which exists but is not Necessary in Itself is possible in essence since that which is essentially-impossible never enters the realm of concrete-reality [وجود خاج]. Therefore that which is Necessary in Itself can never be something that enters into existence after being non-existent or whose existence is preceded by a period of non-existence.
However the Grand Masters of Islamic Philosophy such as Avicenna, Suhrawardi and Mullah Sadra distinguish between temporal-non-existence and essential-non-existence [عدم ذاتی], where the explanation regarding the former has already been set forth above ; it has already been explained that a thing possible in essence is not inclined towards existence and only enters concrete-reality when its existence is necessitated by a cause other then itself and hence that which exists but is possible in essence, is rendered necessary through another [واجب بغيرہ] and is existent through another [موجود بغيرہ ] ; therefore that which is possible in essence has existence from another and consequently that which it has from itself, by virtue of itself is only non-existence ; another way to consider this is to strip away a contingent essence from all that it has through another, meaning an agent-cause then whatever the essence is left with must be due to itself, and that which a contingent essence has through another is existence ; therefore being denuded from existence such an essence is left with nothing but non-existence, which it has from itself, and everything which is such is something caused and dependent and hence cannot be Necessary in Itself.

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