Orthodoxy in Arabic Terms by Najib George Awad

Author:Najib George Awad [Awad, Najib George]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: De Gruyter
Published: 2015-03-19T00:00:00+00:00

Praise be to God who was, still, and still is … who is transcendent above being a primary origin for something … and if this was otherwise in him, his other would become his equal and match, since he [God], the glorified, is his origin and principle, and he would then be to everything that was from him, and to each of the things that emanated from him, whatever is said about him, since what is generated from him would be similar to him.822

For ar-Rassī, then, God cannot be a supreme cause, an uncaused cause, or an arche because this would mean that what originates from God is totally like him, not only functionally, but essentially and ontologically as well. Attributing any originating ability to God nullifies monotheism and justifies polytheism; that is, it turns the one God against his oneness, against his own self. If God is to remain the one and only supreme, transcendent and eternally infinite deity, God cannot be an arche, an originating principle, or uncaused cause of any other thing.

Does this mean that, for ar-Rassī, God is not then ‘Creator’ and creation was created by another agent? Not at all. Later in this work, ar-Rassī states:

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