and included in this usage is the Prophet’s statement, peace and blessings be upon him: “al-ʿajmāʾ jibār” – “no liability is incurred for damage caused by a dumb beast.”

Blindness (ʿamā) follows the same pattern. The Arabs say, “ʿamā al-mawj yaʿmī ʿamyan” when the waves hurl up debris and foam; they call “the two blind ones” a torrent and a rampaging camel; and they say, “ʿamīya ʿalayhi al-amr” when a matter becomes obscure. The Qur’an uses the same expression: “So, on that Day, all tidings will be obscured to them” (Qur’an 28:66).

Some of these examples could be explained as the absence of a quality the subject might otherwise possess—such as sound—yet other instances concern things that can never possess the quality at all, like speaking of the death of idols.

Second, inanimate objects can indeed be endowed with such attributes, for God, exalted is He, is perfectly able to create life within them—just as He transformed Moses’ staff into a living serpent that swallowed up the ropes and staffs.