in a single garment with none of it over his shoulder.” This will be explained in detail later, Allah willing.

As for reason, most rational people and those of sound natural disposition tell them that this “one” they have described is inconceivable and has no existence in external reality. It is merely something posited in the mind. Nothing exists in external reality without attributes or magnitude, with no part distinguishable from another, such that it might neither be seen nor perceived nor encompassed—even if someone calls it a body.

Moreover, to affirm oneness is to affirm something that is one. It must therefore possess a positive reality of its own, peculiar to it and distinguishing it from everything else, so that it can truly be said that nothing resembles it in those positive features. Nor is the mere absence of a likeness sufficient: if it does not imply the affirmation of something existent, it is a description of nonexistence. Thus, denying any likeness or partner presupposes something possessing a reality by virtue of which it deserves to be called one.

For this reason, Ibn Kullāb and others explained “one” as that which stands apart from everything else and is distinct from it. This meaning is included in the scriptural meaning of “one,” although