As for tawhīd in knowledge, it centers on affirming the attributes of perfection, denying that Allah has any likeness or equal, and declaring Him free of faults and deficiencies. This is indicated in two ways: one general and the other detailed.

The general indication is the affirmation that all praise belongs to Him, glorified is He. The detailed indication is the mention of His divinity, lordship, mercy, and sovereignty. These four underpin the divine names and attributes.

Praise encompasses all this because it entails commending the One praised for His perfect attributes and majestic qualities, together with loving Him, being pleased with Him, and humbling oneself before Him. Neither someone who denies His attributes nor someone who turns away from loving Him and humbling himself before Him truly praises Him. The more numerous the perfect attributes of the one praised, the more complete the praise; whenever any of those attributes are denied, the praise is diminished accordingly. Thus, all praise belongs to Allah—praise that none but He can fully encompass—because of the perfection and abundance of His attributes. For this reason, none of His creatures can encompass all the praise due to Him, for He possesses attributes of perfection and qualities of majesty that none but He can fully enumerate.

This is why Allah Most High condemned the gods of the unbelievers and exposed their deficiencies by declaring them devoid of the attributes of perfection. He censured them for being unable to hear, see, speak, guide, benefit, or harm. Yet this is the description of the god of the Jahmiyyah: they ascribed to Him the very characteristics for which He censured the idols. Exalted is Allah, far above what the wrongdoers and deniers say!

Allah Most High related what His close friend Abraham, peace be upon him, said when disputing with his father:

19:42 “O my father, why do you worship that which neither hears nor sees, nor benefits you at all?”

Had Abraham’s God possessed these characteristics and been in such a state, Āzar would have said to him: “Your God is just the same, so how can you reproach me?”

Yet despite his polytheism, he knew Allah better than the Jahmiyyah did. Likewise, despite their polytheism, the unbelievers of Quraysh acknowledged the attributes of the Creator, glorified is He, and His being above His creation. Allah Most High said:

7:148 “After Moses had gone, his people made from their ornaments a calf—an image that lowed. Did they not see that it could neither speak to them nor guide them to any way? They took it as a god and were wrongdoers.”

Had the God of all creation, glorified is He, been like that, this would neither constitute a rebuke of them nor provide proof that the calf was not divine.