Section: The third group comprises the extremist Jahmites, the Qarmatians, the Bāṭinites, and those who follow them:
• Their modus operandi is to deny all divine names and attributes. They describe Allah only through sheer negation with no accompanying affirmation, and they assert that Allah is “absolute existence on the condition of absoluteness⦗2⦘.” Hence, they insist that one must not say He is existent, living, knowing, or powerful; such terms, they claim, are names for His creatures or mere metaphors, because affirming them would necessitate likening Him to a living, knowing, powerful being. They further contend that each attribute is identical with the Essence and that every attribute is identical with every other attribute, so there is no difference between knowledge and power, or between hearing and sight, and so on.