They said, (1) “You will never be true monotheists until you state, ‘There was Allah and nothing else.’”

We replied, (2) “We do indeed say, ‘There was Allah and nothing else.’ Yet when we say that Allah has never ceased to exist with all of His attributes, are we not merely describing one God together with all His attributes? We offered them an example and said, (3) ‘Tell us about this date-palm: does it not have a jidhʿ (trunk), a karb (crown base), lif (fiber), saʿf (fronds), khuṣ (leaflets), and jimmār (pith)? Even so, it has a single name; (5) it is called a date-palm by virtue of all these characteristics. In the same way, Allah—glorified is His majesty, and His is the highest similitude—is, with all His attributes, one God.

We do not say (6) that there was ever a time when He lacked power and then created power, for whoever lacks power is impotent. Nor do we say that there was ever a time when He did not know until He created and thereby knew, for whoever does not know (7) is ignorant. Rather, we maintain that Allah has always been knowing, able, (8) and sovereign, (9) beyond the confines of “when” and “how.”

Allah even described a certain disbeliever—al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah al-Makhzumi—by the epithet waḥīd (solitary), saying, (10) “Leave Me alone with the one I created solitary” [Q 74:11], and he was