Principles, Illustrations, and Rules for Clarifying the Doctrine of the Salaf and Debating Their Opponents

This matter becomes clear through two noble foundations, two illustrative examples—for Allah is the loftiest example—and a comprehensive conclusion.

Section

The Two Foundations

Foundation One: Discourse on some of the attributes is the same as discourse on the others.

If the person addressed admits that Allah is Living with a life, Knowing with knowledge, Powerful with power, Hearing with hearing, Seeing with sight, Speaking with speech, and Willing with a will—regarding all of these as real—yet objects to His love, pleasure, anger, and dislike, treating them as figurative and interpreting them either as will or as created effects such as blessings and punishments,

he is told: There is no difference between what you have denied and what you have affirmed; the same rule applies to each. If you say that His will is like the will of created beings, then His love, pleasure, and anger are likewise like theirs—and that is tamthīl (anthropomorphism). And if you say: He has a will