Answering Answering Islam's Article "On The

Philosophical Necessity of the Trinity Based On The

Attributes Of God"
The Divine Attributes are a subject of deep philosophical and theological research.
In general there are two basic types of Attributes.
1] Absolute Attributes
2] Relative Attributes.
Absolute Attributes are often defined as follow:=

Those attributes of God which he has in himself, which can be exercised

apart from his relationship to his creation, are referred to as his absolute
attributes.
Aseity, Simplicity, Infinity, Immensity, Eternity,
immutable/Unchangeableness,Uniqueness,Holiness,Greatness,Obliquity ,Perfection.
Relative Attributes of God.
Relative Attributes Of God are defined as follow:

Relative attributes of God are those attributes which God exercises as

concerns his Creations.
Example:
Mercy,Justice, Forgiveness, Generosity ,Kindness, Providence
,Wrath.

Unfortunately a large number of scholars have included the Divine Attributes

like Omniscience, Omnipotence, Divine Will in the category of relative
Attributes. But they are very different from the Attributes like Mercy, Justice
etc.
So in such discussion one must constitute a separate case for them.
As for us we generally Include Omniscience , Omnipotence, and Omni Will
in the First Category and subdivide the first category in to two.
1] Negative Attributes like Infinity and Immutablity.

2] Positive Attributes .
The are further Divided into Pure and Partially Relative Abolute Attributes.
Pure Attributes are like Aseity, and Partially relative Absolute Attrributes as
Omniscience and Omnipotence.
Relative Attributes are like Mercy, Forgiveness etc.
Now we are in a position that we may convey our message to those who some how
have made an incorrect objection .
It must be noted that if some one insist that Omnipotence etc. are Relative
Attributes then still they are different from Mercy etc. In this case we shall divide the
Relative Attributres into two subdivisions. The basic discussion is still the same.

Inspite of all greatness one may ascribe to Augustine ,he was a human being
and not infallible. He did commit a mistake when he began to argue from the
simple verse in NT, Which says :God is Love.
Actually Augustine analogues Divine Love and the Human Love.
Divine Love is a Relative Attribute of God and it must be different from
human love.
It is not impossible for God to Love His own Self and His Own Essence. It may appear
impossible to a person who accept Augustine s reason . Augustine was a human and human
reason cannot comprehend God, it can, however, acquire a knowledge not only of His existence,
but also of some of His attributes. So this is the case with Augustine. He thought that as a Human
Being cannot love His/Her Own Self and Essence, God Cannot love His Divine Self and His
Divine Essence/Nature and Nature of His Essence. In human Love is not perfect and if an
imperfect Created Rarional Suppositum Loves It Self it is either an Imperfect love or it is Egoism
and not love. But the Self of the Lover excludes the Love of the lover due to finiteness and
Imperfection of the Finite Lover and Finiteness of the Imperfect Love. God in Infinitely
Loveable and Perfectly Lovely. So It is Not impossible for God to Love Its own self with out
implying any Hypostase.
Just like God knoweth His Self perfectly; He Loveth His Self Perfectly , Just like God
knoweth all things outside Himself, He Loveth Good out of Himself. Just like Divine
Omniscience is infinite like His being His Love is infinite.. Just like God Knoweth Himself and
eternally affirms Himself God Loveth Himself . Just like eternal and unchangeable affirmation of
God Himself constituteth truth in itself, Eternal Love Constituteth in itself. Divine Love Loveth
It Self in itself.
Divine Knowledge Knoweth It Self in Itself.
God loves Himself just like God Knoweth Himself, as He is; He loves all other beings in so
far as they are good, and because they come from Him.
One may make a distinction at this stage that Divine Omniscience is more general in the sense
that God Knoweth both Good and the Evil but God Doeth not Love Evil. He Loveth Good.

How ever in a sense God loves all existing things since he is their Creator.
So it must be noted that the Augustinian argument is not convincing. He took the verse from NT
yet made a very incorrect argument from it. So the incorrectness can only be ascribed to
Augustine the father of the fallacy and not to the Biblical Verse.
Now we come to the argument of Answering Islam which is nothing but a modified reproduction
of Augustinian argument.
For any event of "love" we do need the subject who loves, we need an object which is loved, and
we need an expression of this love in some way, i.e. an interaction between the first two.
This may be true for the imperfect love that it requires to subjects Separate or Different Subjects.
But this is not the requirement in the case of Perfect Love.
Both the subject may be one and the same in the cases of Perfect Love and God.
What we find in the Dogma of Trinity is the Divine relations are the Divine Hypostases.
, Divine Hypostases are none other than Divine Relations. Eg The Father is the
Divine Paternity, the Son /Word the Divine Filiation, the Holy Spirit the Divine
Procession. These relations are not accidents.Since Whatever is in God must needs
be subsistent. So why cannot the same be said in the Divine case of Love that Love
Of God is God Himself. Gods Love Loveth Itself. As it is often said that God is the
Supreme Substance , transcending the divisions of the Aristotelean categories.
Hence, at one and the same time God is both substance and relations why it
seems impossible to Augustinian minded people to say that God is Both
Essence/Nature and Attribute transcending Aristotelian Catogaries Augustinian
conditions of Love both at the same time.
Yes we may need two subjects but GOD Doeth Not Need.
As the human love and love of Created Rational Supposita are imperfect then there
respective selves may exclude their love or their imperfect love of their respective
selves may be termed as Egotism etc. But this cannot be claimed for the Supreme
Perfect Love , which is pure love it itself.
In the Case of Love Of God it is Love in itself and Love Loveth It Self in Itself.

Why the objection is often made that that to love ones own self is Egoness or
Egotism and not love.
The only reason is because the argumentator confused the Relative Love and the
Absolute Love. Alove that Loveth itself in itself,which is Perfect cannot be analogue
with Loves which due to their imperfectness require two separate /Distinct Subjects

If the Love Of God for His Own Essence/Self would have been relative then even God
may required to Separate and Distinct Subjects. But it is not the case. The Love is
Not Relative But Absolute.
At this stage if some one says that Divine Love for Creation is Relative, then one
may response that if so even then the Divine Love For Divine Self is ABSPOLUTE
WHICH DO NOT REQUIRE TWO DISTINCT SUBJECTS.
But suppose that it is correct then what?
Father cannot love Himself.
Son/Word cannot love Himself.
Holy Ghost cannot love Himself.
Godhead cannot love Itself.
Father Cannot Love Godhead.3
Triune God or God the Trinity cannot Love Himself.
Triune God Cannot love any one of the Hypostasis.
Last in this discussion Godhead cannot love God the Trinity etc.
If so then one may say God cannot and does not love Himself.
In this case we shall response that If Father Does not love Himself then it cannot be
said that Father hates it self. So it will be said that Neither Father Love Himself nor
Hates himself.
So Christians and Muslims are once again even and no one of the two is odd.
Now to discuss about the Vese which says God is Love.
In the case the verse does not say God was Eternally Love but He is love at the time
this sentence was spoken.
Just likewGod became man without ceasing to be God [in Trinitarian Theology]
likewise the same can be the answer that God became Love with out ceasing to be
God [ CONTER ANSWER].

Now, how can God BE Love if he was solitary in "unitary aloneness" from eternity past? None
of the attributes of God are dependent on his creation. If God could only start loving after he had
created us then his attribute of love would be dependent on us. He would not be self-sufficient in
his attributes. But if he is unitary as Muslims believe, then love necessarily cannot be an attribute

of his [nor can justice or mercy or any other relational attribute] because he is not in any
relationship for eternity before he creates.
This is totally a misconception. Ask any good Christian, Was God God in Eternity,
and he/she shall say Yes He Was.
But to be God it requires three things.
1] One to which the term God Is Predicated.
2] One to whom /which there is a God of.
3] The relation of Godhood or Godship or Divinity between the two.
Eg God of Abraham.
But if There is no one except God and Hypostases in the Godhead Of God then of
what trhing God was the God of??
Was the First Hypostasis the God of the Second Hypostasis. Was the First Hypostasis
thje God of God the Trinity???
Was the second Hypostasis God of the Godhead.
No. So this question is absurd on trinitical level as well.
So If to be God does not require two Subjects how can it be said that To be Love or
Love requires two subject.
Last not the least it may be said If Love require two subjects then they must not be
in one Essence since they require two subject each of a separate Essence or Nature.
To Love some thing in ones own Essence/Nature is nothing but a type of Egotism.
It is hoped that our friends must have understood the point that Great Augustine
was not infallible and he did commited an Error while arguing from a verse of NT.
Not e this is written on request of a friend so it is written in haste. A detail
discussion may be presented latter. It is a Proto version yet it shall do its job Inshaa
Allah.