nor any attribute or measure. Every existent must necessarily possess a concrete reality peculiar to it, and that reality entails its proper attributes and determinate measure. Hence these people are among the most severe in disabling the Creator and denying Him, even while imagining that they affirm His existence. A fuller discussion of their errors has been set out elsewhere.

The messengers—may Allah’s blessings be upon them—came with detailed affirmation and succinct negation, whereas their opponents have done the reverse, offering detailed negation and only the vaguest affirmation. The messengers reported—just as Allah Himself declares in the Book He sent down with His Messenger—that He is Knowing of all things, Powerful over all things; that He is Wise, Mighty, Forgiving, Loving; that He created the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them in six days, then rose over the Throne; that He spoke to Moses directly; that He manifested Himself to the mountain and reduced it to dust; that He sent down the Book upon His servant; and much else of His Names and Attributes. Concerning negation and transcendence He said:

“There is nothing like unto Him,”
“Nor is there anyone equal to Him,”
“Do you know of anyone who shares His name?”

These atheists, by contrast, come with detailed negation and only a nebulous affirmation. In their negations they say: “He is not this, nor that, nor that; nothing can draw near to Him, nor can He draw near to anything; He is not seen, neither in this world nor the next; He possesses no speech subsisting in Him, no life, no knowledge, no power, or anything else; He cannot be pointed to or individuated; He is neither separate from the universe nor dwelling within it; He is not inside it or outside it”—and similar purely negative statements that fit nothing but non-existence. Then, by way of affirmation, they merely declare, “He is absolute existence,” or “existence in some qualified sense.”