Information about the tawhid

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Bi ismillahi rahmani raheem

Do the 99 beautiful names, including those referencing the Love of Allah, describe who Allah is?

Yes they do that is why they where revealed to us, a better translation would the 99 attributes of allah and these are just the main ones they are not limited to 99 we know of a lot more. They describe his being or nature or essence if you like and help us understand how he may possible act towards us.

If love is not created...that is the spiritual aspect of love...(I agree by the way)...then love is eternal in that sense is it not? 

as an action then yes, man himself is created he has a beginning and an end but the knowledge about how to create man is eternal since allahs knowledge does not increase or decrease....does that make sense its a very tricky subject.

So love would have existed with Allah but the act could not have been carried out until the object of that love was created.

So I guess what I am asking is this...prior to creation could Allah be described as loving or compassionate...etc...from the 99 names...or are they contingent upon the existence of the created order?

Yes if what you mean by love and compassion is righteousness and morality, since he is Al-`Al�: The Highest and this is in terms of moral perfection, he wasnt at one point Evil then decided to be Good he was always morally superior al Ali the highest.

regarding the explanation of al Ali in terms of rank, rank is referring to moral excellence or perfection as no other rank counts with allah. Our closenesses to Allah is Dependant upon our moral perfection in relation to his other creations. Angels have a higher rank than all of creation except for humans [in general] and this is in terms of piousness.

Otherwise what is there to Love or be compassionate towards if creation is not created yet, you seem to be asking the same question as before but in a different way. It seems you are trying imagine him in terms of a feeling or emotion he isn't a ball of love that exists 

There is reason and cause.

As understand Jehovah in the bible, He is love...that is to say one could describe His essence with the word Love 

But in reality what is meant here is moral perfection and beauty this is what it is eluding to otherwise what is the significance  of simply loving he didn't create creation so he would have something to love he is not in need.

maybe something is being lost in translation or the context is missing?

because all love flows from Him. 

i don't think this is correct as some people love some very twisted things, i think you have to qualify that statement such as pure love or righteous love that differentiates it from the twisted things people tend to love.

Without Him love would not exist...etc...so in His being (ontology) there is love...not in some composite sense...

i think love here is also synonymous with other qualities that give a sense of the type of love or the aim or objective of that love. "Allah is beautiful and loves beautiful things" [saying from the Quran i think]that has a wide range of meaning from the beauty of nature to moral beauty in our actions self sacrifice etc i don't think there is love in and of itself otherwise you would simply be talking about an emotion a feeling and that is all.

No feeling can exist in and of itself, look at the nature of man he needs motivation to feel and if creation has the slightest bit of likeness to Allah then we know from this, feeling [regardless of what type] needs a reason to be felt. 

In order for him to love without taking something new upon himself would not love need to be to some degree...part of who he is? If not, then by "choosing" to love us, would he not be changing his mind? Or choosing to indulge in something foreign to him? Taking on a new aspect or relation not previously existing in his nature?

I understand what you are getting at since him deciding to love doesn't that change his nature?

I would say no because his nature is his qualities [99 attributes] him applying his qualities to creation is not changing his nature but deciding to act upon those Qualities they are two seperate things, Nature/being/essence/ontology and action.

Part of my thinking I believe revolves around the idea of Allah "feeling." You "feel" something based stimuli outside yourself. So if Allah is not changed by his creation would it be better for me to understand his "feeling" as...this...He is by definition the necessary being of love...therefore, when he loves...he is not making a choice to "feel" something based upon anything outside himself...but rather in his sovereign righteousness he is sharing what he already has "love" with his creation?

You are going back to assuming the way he feels is the same way as we do, allah is the source of love as you said, he is also the source of mercy, Bi ismillahi rahmani raheem, in the name of Allah the most gracious the source of mercy.

How is he the source of these things in what way does he pour it down on us like rain or bring it down on us like a cloud. How it is for us and occurs in Us is not the same for him its just a small likeness nothing more.

i am out of time at the moment so insha allah we will have to continue the discussion another time.

Edited by rami