it would then follow that these would themselves be gods, for pre-eternity is Allah’s most exclusive attribute. Thus, if we were to posit something pre-eternal that is not identical with the Essence, it would necessarily share with the Essence that most exclusive attribute and thereby amount to another self-subsistent essence.

This line of reasoning is adopted by many of the Muslim innovators who deny the attributes, and the Jews and Christians likewise invoke it when they argue that, were we to affirm the attributes, we would end up with multiple deities.

Some people who claim affiliation with Islam have even said, “If we affirmed the attributes, we would be echoing the Christians, for they ascribe aqānīm (hypostases) to God.” Yet this very argument turns back upon the Christians themselves, for they constitute the third group: they affirmed for Allah certain attributes which they then declared to be a single substance