(al-Ahqaf 46:33).
— And He says: “Your Lord wrongs no one” (al-Kahf 18:49).

• Every attribute that Allah, exalted is He, has denied of Himself carries two implications:
  1. The absence of that attribute.
  2. The affirmation of the perfection of its opposite.

Do you not see His words: “Nothing in the heavens or on earth can frustrate Allah; indeed, He is All-Knowing, All-Powerful” (Fatir 35:44)? When Allah negated incapacity for Himself, He made it clear that this is because His knowledge and His power are perfect.

Accordingly, His negation of injustice implies the perfection of His justice; His negation of weariness and fatigue implies the perfection of His strength; His negation of drowsiness and sleep implies the perfection of His life and His sustaining authority; and His negation of death implies the perfection of His life.

All other negated attributes follow the same principle.

• Negation in the divine attributes can never be mere denial; it must establish a perfection, for the following reasons:
  1. Allah the Exalted says: “To Allah belongs the highest example” (al-Nahl 16:60), meaning the most perfect description—and sheer negation contains no perfection.
  2. Pure negation is sheer non-existence, and non-existence is nothing; how, then, could nothingness amount to praise or perfection?
  3. When a negation does not imply perfection, it may simply indicate that the subject is incapable of possessing either the attribute in question or its opposite; this is no commendation, just as when one says, “The wall …”