Many Muslim scholars—especially those who write in the field of doctrinal foundations—build their proof by first establishing that He is Powerful before they establish that He is Knowing and Living. They argue that, in the theoretical sequence of reasoning, recognizing His power comes earlier, because the existence of contingent events and produced acts conclusively points to the power of the One who brings them into being. Therefore it is incumbent upon them to affirm for Him the attribute of power together with knowledge.

They likewise say: a living being can be either hearing or non-hearing, seeing or non-seeing. We must therefore attribute to Him the more excellent of the two states: Hearing and Seeing.

The same applies to speech, provided that by “speech” we mean clarification and expression, not merely knowledge or something akin to it. A living being is then divided into one who speaks—who makes manifest and articulates what lies within himself—and one who does not. Hence you must describe Him with the nobler of the two: articulate speech that clarifies and conveys the meanings within.

Among the proofs for affirming all the attributes of perfection is that, were He not described as Living, Knowing, Powerful, Hearing, Seeing, and Speaking, He would necessarily be described by their opposites—death, ignorance, incapacity, deafness, muteness, and inarticulateness. It is self-evident and rationally necessary that He be exalted beyond such deficiencies. Indeed, this is known with absolute intellectual certainty, for He is the most perfect, the most majestic, and the greatest of all existents—Lord, Creator, and Master of everything besides Him, the One who bestows life, knowledge, power, hearing, sight, and speech upon all others. It is inconceivable that He Himself could be incapable, ignorant, deaf, mute, or dumb. Reason necessarily judges that anyone characterized by such defects cannot even be an agent, much less the Creator of all things.