And the point is that he stated in his letter, “He does not resemble things in any respect.” Those who did not understand the true meaning of this expression agreed with him. It is reported that Ahmad said:

“He does not resemble things, and there is nothing like Him,” or words to that effect.

As for the phrase “in any respect,” Ahmad refused to accept it, because he understood that it entailed sheer negation: it implied that Allah neither exists nor is anything, neither lives nor knows nor has power, and it entailed invalidating all His most beautiful names.

This negation is the true substance of the Qarmatians’ doctrine. Yet nothing is like Allah Most High in any respect. Rather, in every attribute He possesses, He is uniquely distinguished in a way in which no other resembles Him. To Him belongs the highest description.

The word “resemblance,” however, is ambiguous and imprecise. Any two things necessarily have something in common, even if only that they both exist. What they have in common cannot be denied without denying both of them.

Thus, if someone says, “This has nothing in common with that in any respect, nor does it correspond to it in any respect,” this is impossible.

The same applies if someone intends this meaning when saying, “It does not resemble it in any respect.” This differs from intending likeness, equality, or equivalence, or expressing that meaning through the terms “sharing,” “agreement,” or “correspondence.” For nothing is like Him in any respect, and He has no partner in any respect—especially since the universals shared by two things exist only in minds, not in external entities. Thus, there are not among