But without the shared element, the words would convey no benefit. The distinguishing element is then supplied through further qualification: He is known to be light unlike other lights, existent unlike other existing beings, and living unlike other living beings.

This is the answer given by the discerning scholars among those who affirm the divine attributes and deny that servants can know His innermost reality or modality. They say:

“His innermost reality cannot be expressed in words, nor can His modality be conceived in the mind.”

They also say:

“His rising over the Throne is known, but its manner is unknown.”

And they say:

“Creation has been veiled from knowing His innermost reality,” and similar statements.

As for those who deny that these things have any actual reality, saying, “He has no innermost reality that could be expressed in words, nor any modality that could be conceived in the mind”—as some of the Muʿtazilah say, along with those who follow them among the Ashʿarīs and others affiliated with the four imams of jurisprudence—they are the ones who have departed from the natural answer and sought to alter the innate human disposition, just as they have altered the revealed texts.

Perfection lies only in the innate disposition perfected by the revealed law. The Messengers—may Allah’s blessings be upon them—were sent to affirm and perfect the innate disposition, not to change and transform it.

It is well known that the question “What is He?” cannot be answered in the same way as a question about species, for Allah—glory be to Him—has no equal. If this is impossible even for a created thing whose species consists of a single individual, such as the sun, then it is all the more impossible for the Creator—glory be to Him.

And if a particular thing can be made known only through knowing it or knowing its counterpart,