must have an agent whose action extends to an object. If, however, it is taken to mean that it has that particular attribute, then this requires proof. The same applies to “existent”: the intended meaning is not that another brought it into existence, but that it is real and can be found. Many passive verbs and their corresponding passive participles have become so common in usage that they no longer convey the idea of a newly occurring act performed by an agent at all; rather, they simply affirm the attribute in general terms.

Many expressions used by those engaged in theoretical inquiry belong to this category, such as “existent,” “specified,” “assembled,” “composed,” and “real.” Thus, when they say, “The Lord Most High is specified by characteristics that no other shares,” or “He is existent,” they do not mean that someone else specified Him by those characteristics or that another made Him existent.

Because of this, you find groups who have erred on this point in questions such as this. When it is said, “The Creator Most High is specified by such and such,” or “has such and such particular characteristics,” they say, “What is specified must have someone who specified it in that way, and what has been specified must have a specifying agent who specified it in that way.”

People may investigate a thing’s particular characteristics before investigating whether these come from itself or from another. They know and say that it is specified by them, that it has been singled out by them, that they are particular to it, and so forth.