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This is a simple philosophical question yet I'm not really sure about how to explain the answer : "Is God careful?"

There are only two possible truth to this "yes" and "no". I don't know which one is the correct answer but If you really know it then you should be able to explain the why.

If you agree the answer is "yes", how come? God sees everything, hears everything, knows everything, God even knows the unseen (the future), it is not possible for God to make any mistake at all. For him everything that happened was already according to his plan. Otherwise it would not had happened. Maybe he actually doesn't even need to be careful at all.

But on the other hand, if you answer "no" then it is like saying "God is not careful at all", it is like implying an insult to God. And if you think about it, is there really anyone who is more careful than God?

To support your answer please quote the verses from the Quran. And to make things clear, I do not accept hadits as a reference for the answer for this question, UNLESS the hadith is trying to explain furthermore the verse quoted in the answer and not trying to be the direct reference for the answer (the direct reference can only be from the Quran)

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    How do you define "careful"? Also, creating a false dichotomy is not useful in philosophical questions unless the dichotomy is self-evident. Seeing as carefulness is a scale rather than a boolean value, I don't see why you restrict it to yes/no.
    – The Z
    Commented Feb 21, 2019 at 18:44
  • Wait..i didn't know that the word "careful" has many different meanings. But, you yourself, how did you define "carefulness" ? Why do you see it as a scale? Rather, the more appropriate question is, why would you think the answer to the question "Is God careful?" would be in the form of a "scale"? How would you judge "God" from 1 to 10? Would you answer 5 if so?
    – Tomsofty33
    Commented Feb 23, 2019 at 23:19

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Your question can be answered by reference to the idea of tanzeeh in Islamic theology. The relevant Quranic concepts are "taqaddus", "tasbih", "ta'ali" roughly meaning purification, exoneration, transcendence (The actual inflections of these three concepts used in the Quran are نقدس، القدوس، سبح، نسبح، سبحان، تعالی، متعال)

Tanzeeh is the act of absolving Allah from those attributes that imply defect, flaw or imperfection. As an analytic principle, it determines whether an attribute not explicitly stated in the Holy Quran and Hadiths can be attributed to Allah, or how an attribute already ascribed to Allah by the sources must be explained without undesirable connotations for Allah's perfection.

"Careful" could fall under the second scenario. Now if quality of carefulness involves imperfections such as uncertainty, fear or worry, then it can't be ascribed to Allah. But so much as it implies meanings of awareness and alertness then it would fall under Divine attributes of knowledge and awareness as stated in the Quran. If it is to imply an ability to make good judgements on complicated issues (i.e. power of discernment and subtlety) then it may also be related to the Quranic description, "lateef", meaning subtle, graceful, gentle.

So when it comes to Allah's relations to such complex attributes, it is not take it or leave it. We examine the concept and see how it fits with attributes given to Allah by the scriptures. Hence the answer wouldn't usually be a flat yes or no.

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  • Good answer...you were "careful" not to make your own conclusion as to which connotations I had implied in my question. But of course, to a muslim, when talking about G-d, questions like "Is G-d uncertain about something? fearing? worrying?", the answer should clearly be...no
    – Tomsofty33
    Commented Jul 24, 2019 at 23:35
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    @Tomsofty33 Yes, but I thought the idea that "God doesn't have to be careful at all" would be because He is certain about His plan, so the contrary would imply uncertainty or other relevant concepts.
    – infatuated
    Commented Jul 25, 2019 at 4:44
  • @Tomsofty33 Yes, in that sense He is careful. But the question is does carefulness in these context reflect badly on His divinity and perfection?
    – infatuated
    Commented Jul 25, 2019 at 15:28
  • 29:48 and 42:27 these are some of the verses that to me show how very careful (aware / thoughtful in this context) He is in planning His plan..sometimes it's confusing though, not everything is according to what He instructed in the Quran (like what the sinners, disbelievers or criminals do) yet that is still according to His plan..
    – Tomsofty33
    Commented Jul 25, 2019 at 15:33
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    does carefulness in these contexts (The Quranic verses mentioned ) reflect badly on His divinity and perfection? Not to me. On the contrary, someone who is very careful in making decisions and always has good judgement in his job is someone you can definitely rely on. Rather than someone who is careless. It would depend on how the reader interprets "carefulness" i guess.
    – Tomsofty33
    Commented Jul 25, 2019 at 15:41
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”Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Raheem

Qul Huwa-llahu ‘Ahad

Allahus-Samad

Lam Yalid Wa Lam Yulad

Walam Yakul-La-Hu-Kufuwan ‘Ahad “

“Say: He is Allah,(the) One, Allahus-Samad ( The Self-Sufficient Master, Whom all creatures need, He neither eats nor drinks ). He begots not, nor was He begotten; And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him.”

The one who makes mistakes need to be careful. Similarly, the one who makes mistakes is the only one who can be careless.

God doesn't make mistakes, he is perfect and so is his creation in how he created them. The words careful and careless can't be used to describe him.

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  • Why the word "careful" can't be used to describe G-d? Because being careful is considered something bad and being careless is something good? Then are you saying that G-d is not careful or are saying that G-d is more than just careful so much that the word careful is not capable of describing Him? Then who do you consider as most careful in this universe? Even more careful than G-d?
    – Tomsofty33
    Commented Feb 24, 2019 at 7:57

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