For the Necessary, Pre-Eternal Being is more perfect than the contingent, originated being; and every perfection found in an effected, created thing comes from the Acting Creator. They themselves concede that the perfection of an effect derives from the perfection of its cause. Therefore no perfection can exist in a creature except by way of the Creator, so the Creator is more deserving of that perfection.

It is self-evident that what is nonexistent cannot bring an existent into being, nor can what is deficient produce something more perfect than itself, for deficiency is mere privation. Hence the Lord is never described by purely negative terms unless the negation implies a positive perfection, for sheer non-existence contains no perfection at all. The Exalted says:

“Allah—there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Self-Sustaining; neither drowsiness overtakes Him nor sleep” (Q 2:255).

He absolves Himself of drowsiness and sleep because their absence points to the perfection of life and self-subsistence. Likewise His words,

“And no weariness touched Us” (Q 50:38),

imply perfect power; and His words,

“Not even the weight of a speck in the heavens or on earth is hidden from Him” (Q 34:3),

imply perfect knowledge. Similarly, His saying,

“Vision does not reach Him” (Q 6:103),

according to the majority, means that vision does not encompass Him—it does not mean that He is not seen. Pure negation of sight would apply equally to what does not exist and thus conveys no praise, whereas declaring that He cannot be encompassed or grasped signifies that, because of His greatness, eyes are unable to surround Him. This points to an immense perfection before which vision falls short. The verse therefore affirms that He will be seen while denying that He can be encompassed—exactly the opposite of what the Jahmites suppose when they take it as a negation of His visibility.

Third, we say: a perfection that is unmarred by any deficiency