In reality, their doctrine unites two opposites: declaring the gods to be one while at the same time affirming three gods, and affirming a single jawhar (essence) while simultaneously affirming three ajwāhir (essences).

Yet Allah has proclaimed His transcendence above all this when He said:
“Say: He is Allah, the One” (Al-Ikhlāṣ 112:1) (1)
“Allah, the Eternal Refuge” (112:2) (2)
“He neither begets nor is born” (112:3) (3)
“Nor is there any equal to Him” (112:4) (4).

Thus He declared Himself exalted above begetting—as they claim when they say, “He is the Father”; above being begotten—as they claim when they say, “He is the Son”; and above having any equal—as they claim when they say that someone matches Him in essence.

If you then say, “We maintain a single essence with three attributes,” it is replied: You have already stated explicitly that a true god issues from a true god and that he is co-equal with the Father in essence. That is an open affirmation of a second essence, not merely an attribute. Hence you have combined the two positions: affirming three essences while at the same time claiming to affirm only one.

Nor will the excuse offered by some of you—such as Yaḥyā ibn ʿAdī and the like—avail you when they say: “This is like the statement: ‘Zayd the physician, the accountant, the scribe,’ and then saying: ‘Zayd the physician, Zayd the accountant, and Zayd the scribe.’” For with each attribute he is subject to a ruling different from the ruling that applies with another attribute. They sometimes explain the uqnūm (hypostasis) in this way, saying: “The uqnūm is the self together with the attribute; thus the self together with…"