His acts, and the extent to which it has guided them in this regard. Once we have completed this, we shall have fulfilled our intended purpose.”

He said:

“We say: As for knowledge of this category—namely, declaring Allah free from imperfections and affirming His holiness—it too has been explicitly set forth in numerous verses of the Noble Book. The clearest and most comprehensive of these is His statement, Exalted is He:

‘There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.’ [al-Shūrā: 11]

And His statement:

‘Is He who creates like one who does not create?’ [al-Nahl: 17]

The first verse states the conclusion of the second, while the second provides the proof. That is, His statement, Exalted is He:

‘Is He who creates like one who does not create?’ [al-Nahl: 17]

is the proof of His statement:

‘There is nothing like Him.’

For it is ingrained in everyone’s innate disposition that the Creator must either be characterized differently from one who creates nothing, or possess an attribute unlike that of one who creates nothing. Otherwise, the one who creates would not be