Al-Ghazali's Qawa`id al-`Aqa'id (A Student's Guide) - Ramzy Ajem

Section I : Al-Ilāhiyāt On Knowledge of The Divinity

THE NECESSITIES REGARDING THE DIVINITY
Below, in the order of the text, are the principle divine attributes of perfection. The mukallaf is responsible for knowing that they are necessary of God and that their opposites are impossible of Him, meaning that the divine nature necessarily entails, above all, these twenty attributes:

a) The first pertains exclusively to the Entity (al-dhāt), termed as as-Sifa an-Nafsiyya (the Self-Signifying Attribute) because Being refers to the very entity of God and not to any ‘added meaning’ that an attribute would normally denote.
1. Being (al-Wujūd)

b) The next five attributes are termed as-Sifāt as-Silbiyya (the Negating Attributes), termed as such because their denotations primarily involve negating qualities that do not apply to the Divinity.
2. Unicity (al-Wahdāniyya)
3. Beginninglessness (al-Qidam)
4. Endlessness (al-Baqā’)
5. Self-Subsistence (al-Qiyām bin-Nafs)
6. Transcendence (al-Mukhālafa lil-hawādith)

c) The next seven attributes are referred to as Sifātal-Ma`āniy (the Existential Attributes), termed as such because their meanings are positive (wujūdi). Each attribute is a real quality by which the Divinity is eternally characterized.
7. Life (al-Hayāt)
8. Power (al-Qudra)
9. Knowledge (al-`Ilm)
10. Will (al-Irāda)
11. Hearing (as-Sami`)
12. Sight (al-Basar )
13. Speech (al-Kalām)

d) The above seven attributes entail by necessity the as-Sifāt al-Ma`anawiyah (the Quasi Attributes), termed as such because they are names and not attributes (strictly speaking). These attributes are entailed by the Existential Attributes.
14. Living (Hayy) 
15. Powerful (Qādir)
16. Knowing (`Ālim)
 17. Willing (Murīd)
 18. Hearing (Samī`)
19. Seeing (Basīr)
20. Speaking (Mutakallim)...

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