Explanation and Evaluation of the Theory of Attributes of the Act

According to Islamic philosophers, knowing the Supreme Being is one of the highest level of human spiritual perfection. Knowing the Supreme Being involves different dimensions. One aspect of knowing God is knowing His attributes correctly. Adopting a descriptive-analytical method, the present article attempts to answer the question: Is it legitimate to describe the Supreme Being with attributes of the act? In order to answer this question, we define the meaning of attributes of the act, explain the context and factors contributing to belief in such attributes, present the interpretation of the Islamic philosophers of these attributes and the limitations of this theory and finally, offer an acceptable view. The result of the study of the "theory of attributes of the act" reveals that although the Supreme Being is described by some attributes of the act, the way these attributes are understood firstly is rooted in popular interpretation of some early narrators, and secondly is subject to some significant criticism like weakness and deficiency of the Almighty Allah. A survey of the interpretations of the Islamic philosophers from these narrations shows that they do not necessarily require the acceptance of attributes of the act. Besides, there are some narrations that show some attributes of the act like Creator, All-provider, etc. are exact representation of the Essence of God.