and broken apart through division, becoming many. Do you not see that causes, judgments, intellects, and knowledge, since they are not described as composite, are not subject to division into parts?”

Abū al-Wafā’ ibn ‘Aqīl likewise said in the chapter on denying resemblance:

“He, exalted is He, is unlike other things. He is neither a body, a substance, nor an accident, nor does He possess any of the attributes of existing things. He, exalted is He, says:

‘There is nothing like unto Him.’ [al-Shūrā 11]

“This means that nothing is like Him; the particle kāf (‘like’) is additional. The proof that He is neither a body nor like other things is that, were He a body, He would be composite, for a body is, by its very nature, composite. This is why the Arabs use a comparative form, saying, ‘This is larger in body,’ meaning that it has more parts and greater bulk. Were He composite, He would need someone to compose Him, just as all other bodies do, and whatever is possible for them—division into parts, partition, breaking apart, and joining together—would also be possible for Him.

“Were we to allow that an unseen entity could be beginningless despite being a body, we would infer that it came into existence from our knowledge that this present body came into existence. Moreover, what resembles a thing is that which can take its place and stand in its stead. Thus, if He resembled