that which is named. Likewise, an attribute is an attribute, but that which is described is not the same; there is no likeness between the Creator and the created.

Thus, Allah is declared free of three things:

1. Any deficiency in the attributes of perfection.

2. Attributes of pure deficiency, devoid of perfection.

3. Resemblance to created beings.

Likeness to created beings is itself a deficiency, because equating the perfect with the deficient renders it deficient. The poet said:

Have you not seen that a sword’s worth is diminished
when it is said, “A sword is sharper than a stick”?

If you said, “I have a magnificent sword,” and praised it extensively, then said, “It is sharper than a stick,” its standing would fall greatly, and you would no longer see any worth in that sword, because you have denied that it is comparable to a stick. A sword which one can conceive as being comparable to a stick is undoubtedly deficient.

As for “praise,” it is to describe the one praised as possessing perfection—perfection in His essence and in His actions. Allah is perfect in His essence, and intrinsic to His perfection in His essence is that He be perfect in His attributes.

Likewise, He is perfect in His actions. His actions revolve between justice and kindness: it is impossible for Him to act unjustly. Rather, He either deals with His servants in justice or deals with them with kindness. He deals with the evildoer in justice, as He, Most High, says:

“And the recompense of an evil is an evil like it.” [al-Shura: 40]

He cannot increase it. And He deals with the doer of good with bounty, as He, Most High, says:

“Whoever comes with a good deed shall have ten times the like thereof.” [al-An'am: 160]

Thus, His actions revolve between these two matters—justice and bounty—and whoever’s actions revolve between these two matters, justice and bounty, then he does not