from their correct meanings, introducing meanings that do not belong to them and stripping them of their true meanings. This is the reality of deviation. Whoever does this has lied about Allah. Thus Ibn ‘Abbās explained deviation as lying; alternatively, lying is the ultimate consequence of deviating concerning His names, Most High. For whoever introduces meanings that do not belong to them and diverts them from their true meanings, wholly or partly, has turned them away from what is correct and true. This is the reality of deviation. Such deviation may consist in rejecting and denying His names; denying and nullifying their meanings; distorting them and diverting them from the truth through false interpretations; or making them names for these created, fashioned things, as do the advocates of union. They have made them names for everything in this universe, both praiseworthy and blameworthy, until their leader «1» even said: “He is the one called by every name deemed praiseworthy by reason, revelation, and common usage, and by every name deemed blameworthy by reason, revelation, and common usage.” Far exalted is Allah above what those who deviate say.
Section
The second principle: Each of His names—blessed and exalted is He—signifies both His Essence and the attribute from which it is derived by denoting its full meaning. It also signifies in two other ways: by inclusion and by necessary implication. By inclusion, it signifies the attribute alone, and likewise the Essence considered apart from the attribute. By necessary implication, it signifies another attribute.
Thus, the name “the All-Hearing” denotes the Lord’s Essence together with His hearing as its full meaning. By inclusion, it denotes the Essence alone or hearing alone. By necessary implication, it points to the name “the Ever-Living” and the attribute of life. The same applies to all His other names and attributes. People differ, however, in recognizing whether one thing necessarily entails another. This accounts for their disagreements concerning many names, attributes, and rulings. Whoever knows that voluntary action necessarily follows from life, that hearing and sight necessarily follow from perfect life, and that all other perfections necessarily follow from perfect life, will affirm among the Lord’s names, attributes, and actions things that