Bahá’u’lláh and the God of Avicenna

Abstract

This article analyzes and compares the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh on the nature and existence of God with the core metaphysical positions of Avicenna, the preeminent philosopher of Islam. In three parts, it argues that Bahá’u’lláh validates the metaphysical principles underlying Avicenna’s argument for the existence of God as the vájib al-vujúd or “the Necessarily Existent”; that His statements affirm Avicenna’s deductive account of the divine attributes; and that He confirms the central content of Avicenna’s arguments regarding the nature of God’s creative act, His relation to the world, and the limitless duration, into the past and future, of His creation. It furthermore submits that Avicenna’s philosophy sheds a uniquely informative light on Bahá’u’lláh’s metaphysics and theology, insofar as his theological analysis helps one understand the philosophical content and significance, and rational rigor, of Bahá’u’lláh’s own statements on God’s existence, nature, and creative act.