Hikmat Muta’aliyah on How Allah Almighty Can Be Characterized by His Essential Attributes (An Examination)

That how Allah Almighty can be characterized by His essential attributes has been one of the most significant issues of theology among Muslim thinkers. In different schools of theology, philosophy and mysticism, this issue has faced different and sometimes contradictory fate. Through his theory of the primacy of existence and that the meaning is mentally constructed, Mulla Sadra has taken a new step towards the explanation of the issue. According to that fundamental theory since no real and concrete entity is left for the meaning and concept, there would be no concomitance between the plurality of concept and that of referent (Misdaq). Thus it is possible for different concepts and meanings to exist in one single referent. Accordingly, although Allah’s essential attributes are different in their meanings and concepts, so far as their referent is concerned they all denote only the One Almighty. As a result, what they mean in Hikmat Muta’aliyah that His essential attributes are identical with His Holy Essence is no more than the plurality of denoting terms (the concepts and meanings of attributes) and the unity of what is denoted (the One Almighty).