and to the Lord belongs therein what befits His perfection, while to the servant belongs what is appropriate to him. This is like the name al-Samīʿ (the All-Hearing), which necessarily entails the perception of sounds, and al-Baṣīr (the All-Seeing), which necessarily entails the vision of visible things, and likewise al-ʿAlīm (the All-Knowing), al-Qadīr (the All-Powerful), and all the other names; for a prerequisite for properly applying any of these names is that their meanings and realities be truly present in the one described by them. Whatever these names necessarily imply by virtue of their very essence may therefore be affirmed for the Lord—exalted is He—without any objection whatsoever; rather, it is affirmed for Him¹ in a manner that neither equals² nor resembles His creation. Whoever denies it of Him because the same word is applied to a creature has deviated concerning His names and has rejected the attributes of His perfection; and whoever affirms it for Him in a fashion that makes Him like His creatures has likened Him to His creation—and whoever likens Allah to His creation has disbelieved. But whoever affirms it for Him in a way that does not resemble His creation, instead as befits His majesty and greatness, has been cleared of the filth of anthropomorphism and the stain of denial; this is the path of Ahl al-Sunnah.

2 – Whatever, by virtue of its being ascribed to the servant, necessarily follows the attribute must be negated from Allah—such as the servant’s life being accompanied by sleep, drowsiness, and the need for nourishment, and likewise what his will entails of the body’s movement in procuring what