Antithesis... Absolute... and Relative

                  (al-Ghairiyah..al-Mutlaka.. wal H'okmiyah)

    Praise be to Allah Lord of the worlds, His blessings and Salutations be upon the noblest of the messengers, our master Mohammed, all his family and companions.                                   

    Allah -SWT- has coupled (A'tafa)) and subjoined (Adafa) to Himself some of his creatures. When He -SWT- said "Allah wa-Rasuluh" which can be translated as (Allah and His messenger), this is a kind of coupling (A'tf), and when He mentioned His angels, scriptures, messengers, etc, this is a kind of subjoining (Edafah).

    In the case of coupling, things are coupled to 'Allah', and in subjoining things are subjoined to Him as well, so a question arises: is whatever coupled to Allah considered contrary to Him?, e.g. when Allah says: "…man- Aamana Billah wal Yaum al-Akhir wal-Mala-ekah wal-Kitab wan-Nabiy-een", which can be translated as (..To believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Prophets).

    Things that are subjoined to Allah are meant to be mentioned in favorable regard for example when we say, Awlia of Allah, Lovers of Allah, People of Allah (Ahlu-llah). However, we do not say, enemies of Allah as it's contradictory to the purpose.

    To summarize: If things that are coupled to Allah and those that are subjoined to Him in favorable regard are considered as antithetic (Ghairiyah), then, we should adopt the belief in Allah and His unlike, and His unlike and His unlike. If, on the other hand, the situation is different, where the coupled and the subjoined are not unlike of Allah, what should we do?!     

    In my opinion, I see that the Absolute Antithesis applies to all of Allah's creation, i.e., Creation is unlike the Creator, because there is nothing –whatever- like unto Him –SWT. Whereas, Relative Antithesis, as we mentioned previously, is such that the subjoined and coupled are not considered relative antithesis, however, at the same time they are not considered the selfsame (self, identity or essence are a different issue). We conclude that not all things are considered antithetic to Allah relatively, but everything is considered unlike Allah in essence and in reality.

Example:

An attorney is considered a deputy for his client as he is not his client in person, but he is none other than his client legally. In addition, a pride's deputy (Wali al-A'rouse) is considered none but her legally during the procession of the marriage contract, but he is not her in person, because if he was, the situation will be turned upside down! 

There is no measure or power except with Allah

The Editor

Original Arabic text in Behira Wal-Akalim Journal- Issue # 209