Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
Essential attributes are those with which Allah has always been and will always remain described. Active attributes are those connected to His will; He does them whenever He wills, in a manner befitting Him.
Both considerations may come together in some attributes. An attribute may be essential in the sense that its basis or type is permanently established for Allah, and active in the sense that its individual occurrences are renewed and connected to His will. Examples include speech, creation, provision, and mercy.
As for descent, for example, its individual occurrences are renewed, and the specific type of descent to the lowest heaven did not exist before the lowest heaven itself existed, even though the general category of Allah’s actions is eternal.
An essential attribute is an attribute with which Allah Almighty is described eternally and forever, and which never ceases to belong to Him.
Examples include life, knowledge, power, hearing, and sight.
Allah has always been Living, Knowing, Powerful, Hearing, and Seeing. It is not permissible to imagine a time when He was not described with these attributes.
Likewise, those attributes of His Essence that have been established, such as the two Hands, are permanent attributes of Him in a manner befitting His Majesty.
Active attributes are those connected to Allah’s will. If He wills, He does them whenever He wills.
Examples include descending to the lowest heaven, coming on the Day of Resurrection, rising over the Throne, rejoicing at the repentance of the repentant, being pleased, and becoming angry.
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“Our Lord, Blessed and Exalted, descends every night to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains...”
Narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim.
Thus, descent is an action connected to Allah’s will, and it is affirmed as it has been reported, without asking how and without likening it to created actions.
Scholars may consider the same attribute from two different perspectives.
Take speech, for example. Allah Almighty has always been described as One who speaks. Therefore, speech is called essential with respect to its basis or type.
But Allah speaks whatever He wills whenever He wills. Each particular instance of speech is connected to His will. Thus, speech is active with respect to its individual occurrences.
The same applies to creation, provision, and mercy. Allah has always possessed perfect power to act, and He is the Creator, the Provider, and the Merciful. Then the individual instances of His actions occur according to His will and wisdom:
He creates whatever He wills whenever He wills, provides for whomever He wills, and has mercy upon whomever He wills.
For this reason, some scholars describe such attributes as both essential and active, each from a different perspective.
According to those who use this expression, it means that Allah’s being characterized by action was never preceded by inability or inactivity. Allah has always been doing whatever He wills.
However, a particular action occurs when Allah wills it.
For example, the creation of Adam, peace be upon him, occurred at a particular time, and Adam did not exist before that.
Likewise, Allah’s speaking to Moses, peace be upon him, was a particular speech that occurred when Allah willed to speak to him.
The renewal here concerns individual actions. It does not mean that Allah acquired an attribute of perfection after previously lacking it.
According to the fatwa, a number of scholars included mercy, anger, pleasure, and similar attributes among those whose individual occurrences are renewed according to Allah’s will.
Allah has mercy upon whom He wills, is pleased with whom He wills, and becomes angry with those who deserve His anger, in a manner befitting Him.
Ibn Uthaymeen mentioned anger and pleasure among the active attributes because they are connected to Allah’s will and occur when the causes required by His wisdom exist.
The intended meaning is always to affirm what has come in the revealed texts without likening these attributes to the emotional reactions or manners of created beings:
“There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.”
[Ash-Shura: 11]
Here, precision is required.
Descent to the lowest heaven itself cannot be eternal in both its type and individual instances, because the lowest heaven is created, and descent to it cannot occur before it exists.
For this reason, the fatwa mentions that some scholars regard what is eternal here as the general category of action, meaning that Allah has always been doing whatever He wills, while a specific descent is among the renewed actions.
It has also been reported from Shaykh al-Sa‘di that he applied the expression “eternal in type, originated in individual instances” to descent as well, considering it under the general category of Allah’s voluntary actions.
Thus, much of the difference here concerns terminology and modes of expression. The basic meaning is one: Allah does whatever He wills whenever He wills, and His particular actions occur according to His will and wisdom.
These classifications are scholarly terms used to make the understanding of Allah’s Attributes easier. They are not an end in themselves.
The most important thing is to understand two matters:
An essential attribute is permanently established for Allah and never ceases to belong to Him, such as knowledge, life, and power.
An active attribute is connected to His will, such as descent, coming, pleasure, and anger.
Both aspects may come together in some attributes: the basis of the attribute remains permanently established, while its individual occurrences happen according to Allah’s will.
An essential-active attribute is one that is considered from two perspectives:
It is essential with respect to the permanent establishment of its basis or type for Allah Almighty, and active with respect to its individual occurrences, which happen by His will whenever He wills.
Among the clearest examples are speech, creation, provision, and mercy.
As for particular actions such as descent to the lowest heaven, they are connected to Allah’s will and are renewed. It is not correct to say that descent to the lowest heaven existed before that heaven was created, although Allah, Glorified be He, has always been doing whatever He wills.
And Allah knows best.