He has likewise attributed love (maḥabba) to Himself and to His servant, saying, “Allah will soon bring forth a people whom He loves and who love Him” (5:54), and, “Say: If you love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you” (3:31).

He has attributed pleasure (riḍā) to Himself and to His servant, saying, “Allah is pleased with them and they are pleased with Him” (9:100).

It is therefore clear that Allah’s will is not like the servant’s will, His intent is not like the servant’s intent, His love is not like the servant’s love, and His pleasure is not like the servant’s pleasure.

Likewise, He has described Himself as loathing the disbelievers and has described them as loathing, saying, “Those who disbelieved are called out: ‘Allah’s loathing of you is greater than your own loathing of yourselves, when you were invited to faith but chose to disbelieve’” (40:10). Yet Allah’s loathing is not like their loathing.

In the same manner He has described Himself as plotting (makr) and devising (kayd), just as He has described His servant as doing so, saying, “They plot, and Allah plots” (8:30), and, “Indeed they scheme a scheme, and I too scheme a scheme” (86:15–16). But His plotting is not like their plotting, nor His scheming like their scheming.

He has also described Himself as acting, saying, “Have they not seen that We created for them—by what Our own hands have worked—livestock of which they are now the owners?” (36:71), and He has described His servant