when he seeks to repudiate that imagined resemblance, he falls into four pitfalls:

1. He takes from the texts attributes that resemble the attributes of created beings and assumes that this is what the texts actually teach. This is a faulty understanding, for whatever attribute the texts affirm for Allah accords with His majesty and befits Him. To liken the Creator to the creation is outright disbelief and deviation, for it contradicts His statement, “There is nothing like unto Him” (Ash-Shūrā 42:11). It is inconceivable that the plain sense of revelation could be disbelief or misguidance, for Allah says, “Allah intends to make things clear to you and to guide you to the ways of those who came before you” (An-Nisāʾ 4:26), and, “Allah makes things clear to you lest you go astray” (An-Nisāʾ 4:176).

2. He wrongs the texts by denying the divine meanings they contain and then imposing on them meanings of his own devising which the wording does not convey. In this way he wrongs the revelation from two angles.

3. By negating, without knowledge, the attributes the texts affirm, he ends up speaking about Allah without knowledge—something strictly forbidden by both scripture and unanimous scholarly agreement. Allah says, “Say: My Lord has only forbidden indecencies—open and secret—sin, unjust aggression, associating with Allah that for which He has sent down no authority, and saying about Allah what you do not know” (Al-Aʿrāf 7:33).

4. If he denies of Allah the attributes of perfection that the texts require, it necessarily follows that Allah would be described by their opposites—attributes of deficiency. Every existent being must possess attributes; an essence stripped of all qualities is impossible. Therefore, when the attributes of perfection are negated, the attributes of imperfection are inevitably affirmed.