Anwar-e Ma`rifat

God can certainly be known and described, but there are many different ideas about the extent of this knowledge and description. Some believe that God can be known in general terms, both through intuitive and acquired knowledge, while some others believe that one can only have an acquired knowledge of God’s actions and effects. Mystics hold that God’s essence can be known both through intuitive and acquired knowledge, but just to the extent He has manifested Himself in His actions, not as He truly is. In other words, from the point of view of mystics, the intuitive and acquired knowledge of God’s actions, manifestations, and determinations is the limited intuitive and acquired knowledge of God through the window of manifestations, and no creature can know and describe God through the intuitive and acquired knowledge directly and without the veil of manifestation and determination. Using the analytical-descriptive method, this article has examined some of the rational reasons and traditional and mystical evidence of the doctrine of “the indeterminability of the Divine essence without the veil of determinations.”