and that ḥudūth (coming-into-being) cannot attach to Him either. It is also known that He is self-sufficient and independent of everything else. Consequently, any being that needs something outside itself for even part of what it requires is not existent by itself alone; rather, it exists both by virtue of itself and by virtue of that other which provides what it needs, so it exists only through that other. Allah, however, is independent of all that is other than Him, so everything that conflicts with His absolute self-sufficiency is to be negated of Him. He is all-powerful and strong, therefore anything that contradicts His power and strength is likewise negated of Him. Exalted is He; He is the Living, the Self-Subsisting, so whatever contradicts His life and His sustaining self-existence is to be negated of Him.

[2- That He should have a like or an equal among His creatures]

To sum up: revelation has affirmed for Him whatever of the Most Beautiful Names and attributes of perfection has been transmitted. Hence, anything that opposes those attributes is, by the very testimony of revelation, negated—just as revelation negates that He has any peer or equal. Affirming something necessarily entails negating its opposite and whatever leads to that opposite, and the intellect recognizes this negation just as it recognizes the affirmation of the contrary. Thus, affirming one of two opposites is itself a negation of the other and of all that the other entails.