By the Age of Your God

سبحان الله وبحمده سبحان الله العظيم

The orthodox creed of the Muslims—the Sunnis—is that Allah Holy and Exalted is He possesses multiple attributes, all of which are eternal, subsisting in His Person. These divine attributes, such as Life, Power, Knowledge, Will, Glory, Mercy, Speech, Vision, Hearing, etc., are not synonymous with His Person nor with each other, contrary to the heresy of the Mutazilites and other astray sects. They contend that Allah is knowing and powerful by His Person and not be separate attributes of Knowledge and Power. Their reasoning is that it is contrary to monotheism or the Oneness of God for there to be eternally existing things along with God’s Person. While on the surface it may seem like a mere hairsplitting, theoretical dispute rooted in semantics, in reality this fundamental difference in theology has very real consequences in the thinking and behavior of adherents of these two rival camps.

Among our proofs for the belief that Allah has multiple divine attributes which are not synonymous with His Person, but that He is, for example, alive with the attribute of Life, is that it is established from the most holy Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم that he would utter oaths or swear by some of Allah’s attributes, just as at times he would swear by Allah Himself. Laqit bin Amir narrates that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

لَعَمْرُ إِلَهِكَ

By the Age of your God

(Sunan Abi Dawud #3266)

The scholar of Hadith Zubair Ali Zai graded the chain of transmission sound (isnaduhu hasan):

In this instance swearing by an attribute of Allah rather than by Allah’s Person is proof that Allah’s attributes are divine and eternal. For it is strictly forbidden to swear by other than Allah. When a man swore by the sacred Kaba in the presence of Ibn Umar the latter rebuked him and narrated that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

مَنْ حَلَفَ بِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ فَقَدْ أَشْرَكَ

One who makes an oath by other than Allah commits shirk

(Sunan Abi Dawud #3251)

The word عمر means life or age, usually with the sense of longevity. Some may object that attributing ‘age’ to God is blasphemy since He is eternal without beginning or end. But the truth is that being aged does not logically necessitate that a being is not eternal without beginning. The application of age to Allah would simply mean that Allah is alive for a long time but without origin or limitation. Infinite duration is still duration. The purpose of ascribing age and oldness to Allah despite Him being eternal is to convey a sense of His grandeur and greatness to the human mind which naturally reveres seniority in age or oldness. And the Being Who is infinite in age alone has the right to boast of supremacy over all others.