The absolutely shared notion of humanity exists only in the mind; it never subsists in concrete reality as a universal that all particulars partake of. Whatever exists outside the mind admits of no sharing, and whatever is subject to sharing is the pure universal, which is a universal only within the intellect. If no creature shares its own essence, qualities, or acts with another, then it is even more certain that the Creator—exalted is He—has no partner in anything that is His. A creature may resemble, equal, or rival another creature, but God, glorified and exalted, has no equal, counterpart, or namesake.

Mere overlap in certain names and attributes, which produces a degree of resemblance, does not amount to full sameness or parity; such overlap is inevitable between any two existents, for they must coincide in some names and attributes and thus resemble one another from that standpoint. Whoever denies this unavoidable fact lapses into nullification (taʿṭīl), and whoever declares any of God’s attributes to be identical with the attributes of created beings lapses into likening (tamthīl). The truth is to reject both likening and nullification: one must affirm the attributes of perfection, thereby warding off nullification, and affirm His exclusivity in what is His, thereby warding off likening.

Yet a faction of people conflate tamthīl with tashbīh, insisting that nothing can resemble something else in one respect while differing from it in another. In their view, any two distinct things—like black and white—