that there is absolutely nothing like Allah in any of His attributes. They thus equate them with those who regard Allah as being of the same kind as created beings, merely because they believe that Allah possesses the attributes affirmed in the prophetic revelations.

As for censure, examples include the unbelievers’ calling their idols “the deity” and naming them al-Lāt, al-ʿUzzā, and Manāt, the third, the other one, with the notions of awe, might, and ordainment that these names ascribe to them.

Likewise, the people of innovation give themselves names they do not deserve. The Khawārij, for example, call themselves “the believers,” to the exclusion of all others who pray toward the qiblah, and call their territory “the Abode of Emigration.” Similarly, the Rāfidah call their own adherents “the believers” and “the allies of Allah,” to the exclusion of all others who pray toward the qiblah. Likewise, the Jahmiyyah and similar groups call themselves “the upholders of monotheism” and call the negation of Allah’s attributes “affirming Allah’s oneness.”