the same would also apply to life, knowledge, and power. For knowledge in the observable world is an inhering accident whose absence can be established either through immediate knowledge or through inference. The same does not necessarily hold for the Creator, for He differs in His essential nature from what is observable and shares with it neither an intrinsic nature, nor quantity, nor modality. This argument is clear and plain.

As for their statement:

“If you intend to affirm an attribute resembling what is observable, in a respect that warrants sharing the same description, then this is precisely likening Allah to creation.”

We reply:

Resemblance may take two forms. The first is a correspondence in possessing an attribute on grounds that entail completeness and perfection and exclude deficiency. The second is a correspondence in possessing an attribute on grounds dictated by need and required by sensory perception. It is impossible to intend the second, for Allah Most High has been established to be self-sufficient and free of need. Nor can He be described as needing sensory perception, since that would entail deficiency. Thus, the first remains, and this amounts to affirming attributes that entail perfection and exclude deficiency.

As for their claim that this requires affirming limbs and bodily members, it is incorrect. Such organs are means by which a being acquires what it needs and would be unable to acquire without them. Hence captured animals, such as birds of prey and predatory beasts, are called jawārih (acquirers), because they acquire