is one and indivisible, yet admits of a limit, whereas God, glorified is He, is truly one and admits neither separation nor conjunction.’

He said: ‘If someone asks, “Does oneness amount to an affirmative attribute, or is it among the descriptions that convey negation?” we reply: Some theologians have said that what is meant by “one” is the exclusion of anything other than the single existent. Judge Abū Bakr sometimes inclines to this view. Al-Jubbā’ī said that His being one is established, but neither by virtue of the essence nor by virtue of an attribute. He applied this consistently to both the observable and the unseen. What is indicated by the words of