Getting lost in the attributes of the creations and the inability to understand the meaning of oneness of attributes in God resulted in some specialists of rhetoric moving astray from the right path. One group among them is called “Karamia” who follow Mohammad bin Karam Sistani and they say that God had no attributes in the beginning and it was in later times that He acquired these attributes.

This explanation is so wrong and unpleasant that no one will accept that any person can believe that God in the beginning was weak and became mighty afterwards. Who have Him this might and who initiated Him into knowledge and wisdom?

One objection raised in this issue is that they speak of the attributes of deeds like creativity; sustenance for they feel that it is necessary for God to give sustenance to the beings He has created or else there will be no meaning of creator or sustainer for Him. (He has the power to create and sustain but having the power is one thing and bringing something into existence is another)

But attributes of deeds is not connected with the discussion on the attributes of Oneness and we are discussion the attribute knowledge and might in God. As will be explained later the issues of attributes of being and attributes of deeds are separate. The attributes of deeds are those that our minds learn about them only after observance and add them to God as a being (you will find this explained in this book later)

The best example of the attribute of oneness is “There is nothing like Him” and the verses ion Surah Ikhlas explained earlier. It means there is no possibility of existence of any duality in His pure being.

We can study the following intellectual arguments also:

1. It has been proven from the previous discussion that God is a being that is infinite in all sense and no attribute is external to His existence and whatever exists is in His entity. When we see that are attributes are created or that they are gradually acquired then it is because we are limited in our existence and because of this limitedness the attributes and perfection are external to us. We acquire them at times but the entity of God which is perfection personified then how can anything be imagining out of His existence?

2. If we believe that His attributes are external and acquired and consider knowledge and might to be separate from Him then the result will be that we will consider Him to be dependent though from the previous discussion we have proven that there is no differentiation or separation in His being. He is unique, unified and complete in all sense.

Amirul Mominin has explained the oneness in attributes very lucidly and beautifully in his sermon recorded in the Nahjul Balagha and he says:

The correct form of belief in His Unity is to realize that He is absolutely pure and above nature that nothing can be added to or subtracted from His Being. That is, one should realize that there is no difference between His Person and His attributes, and His attributes should be differentiated or distinguished from His Person. Whoever accepts His attributes to be other than His Person then he actually forsakes the idea of Unity of God and believes in duality ( He and His attributes) Such a person in fact believes Him to exist in parts.”