—a deep ocean, overcast by a wave, upon which is another wave, above which are clouds: layers of darkness, one atop another. If he stretches out his hand, he can hardly see it. For anyone to whom Allah has not granted light, he shall have no light at all (24:40). Allah knows that we do not say this in blind imitation of anyone else (1); rather, we are only reporting what we have personally observed and witnessed.

If you would like to ascertain the matter for yourself, examine most of their propositions and the proofs they advance for them. After grueling toil and exhausting effort, you will find that these quests yield no sound conclusion. Even after all their labor they fail to affirm for the universe a Lord who is distinct from and separate from it. Instead, having strained themselves to establish a being who is neither inside the world nor outside it, neither connected to it nor detached from it, they remain in doubt about His very existence: is He identical to His essence, or is He something over and above it? Some say He is additional, some say He is not, and others suspend judgment altogether—still uncertain whether He exists and, if so, whether He is identical to His essence or additional to it.

They are equally uncertain about His attributes: are they positive realities, mere negations, or neither existent nor non-existent? Are they something added to the One described, or not? How, then, can they affirm them in a manner that does not entail multiplicity within the Essence or differentiation from it? Some of them regard the attributes as sheer negations, others as purely relative states (3), while still others refrain from taking any position. Among them are those who hold that His knowledge is identical with His very Essence—thus turning the Essence into “knowledge.” Others maintain that His knowledge is identical with the object known. Yet others insist that His knowledge is one, neither multiple (4) nor divisible, thereby making His knowledge of the existence—