respects and differ in others—though some people have denied this, saying, “Things that are alike do not differ in any way, and things that differ do not resemble one another in any respect whatsoever”—those who have departed from any part of the Sunnah have become confused about the principle governing their denial of resemblance, because they have treated resemblance and likeness as one and the same. Thus, the Bātiniyyah and some philosophers said that sharing any affirmative attribute necessarily entails resemblance and likeness.

Al-Najjār and al-Qalānisī said:

“Two things are alike when they share an affirmative attribute, provided neither exists through the other.”

This qualification was intended to exclude the Eternal and that which comes into being.

[Continuation of al-Juwaynī’s words]

Abū al-Ma‘ālī said: “The philosophers may be refuted in several ways. The first is as follows:

It is agreed that blackness shares certain affirmative attributes with whiteness: existence, being an accident, and being a colour. Yet the two differ.

Likewise, substance and accident, and the Eternal and that which comes into being, may share a single attribute while differing in all their other attributes.

They are asked: ‘Do you affirm the Maker who governs all things, or do you not