Allah, the Exalted, said
which means:
For those blasphemers who do not believein
Allah and His Messenger, Wehave prepared Hellfire.
It is obligatory to believe in Allah
and to know whatis permissible to attribute to Him, what is necessary to
be ofHis attributes, and what is impossible to be of His attributes.Also,
it is obligatory to believe in the Messenger and to knowwhat is befitting
for him, what is permissible for him and theother prophets, what is necessary
to be of their attributes, andwhat is impossible to be among their attributes.
It is obligatoryto declare these beliefs by the tongue by uttering TheTestification
of Faith (Two Shahadahs):
which means:
I know, believe and profess no one is Godexcept
Allahand Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.
The one who does not believe in Allah and His Messengeris a blasphemer and shall enter Hell eternally. Before proceedingwith this treatise let it be known that the judgments of the mindare three kinds:
Allah, ta^ala, said
which means:
Allahhas attributes that do not
resemble the attributes of others.
It is obligatory to believe the attributes of Allah areconfirmed to Him. He who negates them is called an atheist.Hence, the one who does not believe in the Existence of Allah,i.e., the one who negates Allah's attribute of Existenceis called an atheist.
The attributes of Allah that are obligatory to believein are confirmed to Him. They are not the Self of Allahnor other than the Self of Allah. Rather, we say they areattributes with which Allah is attributed and they arereligiously and intellectually obligatory for Him. Imaman-Nasafiyy said: "His attributes are not Him nor other thanHim."
The attributes of Allah that every pubescent and saneMuslim is obliged to know are called the attributes of the Selfof Allah and Allah is not attributed with theiropposites. They are thirteen attributes; the scholars establishedby consensus he who is ignorant of them is a committer of anenormous sin (fasiq).
These thirteen (13) attributes are: Existence (al-Wujud),Oneness (al-Wahdaniyyah), Eternity (al-Qidam), Everlastingness(al-Baqa'), Non-neediness of others (al-Qiyamu bin-Nafs),Non-resemblance to the creatures (al-mukhalafatu lil-hawadith),Power (al-Qudrah), Will (al-Iradah), Knowledge (al-^Ilm), Life(al-Hayah), Hearing (as-Sam^), Sight (al-Basar), and Speech(al-Kalam).