absolute existence, even though its reality is identical with its existence. How, then, could the reality of the Lord of the worlds be absolute existence, conceivable only in the mind?

Rather, He—glorified and exalted—is distinguished by His own reality, which none other shares and whose innermost nature none but He knows. That reality is His existence, which none other shares and whose innermost nature none but He knows.

When people apprehend absolute existence or absolute reality, what they apprehend is the all-embracing universal, not the actual reality existing outside the mind.

Likewise, the composition of a reality from general and particular attributes is only a composition in the mind: a mental, intellectual, conceptual composition.

Similarly, a bearer of attributes could be composed of an essence and attributes only if there were an essence stripped of those attributes, or if such an essence could exist. As for an essence that can only be living and knowing, its separation from life and knowledge is inconceivable; we therefore cannot say that the essence is combined with the attributes to form a composite.

Likewise, a quiddity that can be pointed to, subsists in itself, and is distinct from other things could be said to be composed of discrete parts, or of matter and form, only if such composition were real. But if the notion of an indivisible atom is false, and the composition of a body from the two substances—matter and form—is false, and created things that can be pointed to and are distinct from other things, such as the sun and the moon, are composed neither of discrete parts nor of two substances, matter and form, how could anyone suppose that the Lord of the worlds is composed of such things?