And He says:

“My mercy encompasses all things.” [al-A‘rāf: 156]

And:

“He encompasses all things in knowledge.” [Tā Hā: 98]

And:

“And so that you might be brought up under My Eye.” [Tā Hā: 39]

There are many similar examples in the Quran and Sunnah.

It is self-evident that knowledge is not identical with the knower, and that what is attributed in these possessive constructions is not identical with the one to whom it is attributed. Likewise, although Allah’s Most Beautiful Names—such as the All-Knowing, the Ever-Living, the All-Powerful, the Most Merciful, and others—are names of Allah that refer to His sacred Self, the life signified by “the Ever-Living,” the knowledge signified by “the All-Knowing,” the power signified by “the All-Powerful,” and the mercy signified by “the Most Merciful” are not one and the same.

Whoever claims that these Most Beautiful Names do not signify these meanings is wilfully denying the meanings of the language in which the Quran was revealed. For the forms that grammarians call active participles, passive participles, and adjectives recast from them—such as the fa‘īl pattern and others—are derived words that incorporate the meanings of their verbal nouns, unlike words such as “man” and “horse.”

Whoever holds that “knower” does not signify knowledge and that “powerful” does not signify power is like someone who says that “one who prays” does not signify prayer, “one who stands” does not signify standing, or “one who fasts” does not signify fasting, and so forth.

As for the questioner’s inquiry: “Are these attributes identical with the essence or other than it? Are they identical with the essence or additional to it?”