An Explanation of the Previous Divine Knowledgeto the Essence In the ᷾Imran Ṣābi's Hadith

One of the important issues in the field of divine names and attributes is God's previous knowledge to his essence before creating possible beings. According to the appearance of the ᷾Imran Ṣᾱbi's narration, Imᾱm Reḍᾱ (A.S) denies God's need for such knowledge that is incompatible with another Imᾱm's narration in which God's knowledge to His essence is affirmed. The commentators of this narration like hadith scholars, philosophers, and mystics disagree in explaining and solving such incompatibility. ʿAllᾱmih Majlisī has mentioned four justifications that all of them can be criticized. Qᾱżī Saʿid Qummī accepts the apparent meaning of Hadith and attributes this knowledge to the level of Unity.  This viewpoint is incompatible with those traditions in which the attributes of essence are affirmed. ʿAllᾱmih Jafarī uses only the principle of identity in jusfying this Hadith and does not accept the attributing this to God's intuitive knowledge. In this article, Mullᾱ Ṣadrᾱ's viewpoint that is based on intuition knowledge and the principle of identity is more compatible with Imᾱm Reḍᾱ's (A.S) Hadith in solving this contradiction.