His attributes? The majority of jurists, hadith scholars, Sufis, and groups of speculative theologians, however, say that the act itself and creation are among His attributes, but the created thing is not. Thus, if it is said that Allah Most High comes in His attribute, then, according to the former position, this cannot mean His acts. According to the latter position, however, His coming would involve the very act that subsists in Him, not merely the coming of the thing produced by that act. This is because “attribute” may mean either a statement—both its wording and its meaning—or the meanings subsisting in the one described. On either understanding, created things are not included among the attributes of Allah Most High.

Twelfth: Had the wording been, “Then Allah comes to them in a magnificent form,” or “in a magnificent state,” just as one says, “The king came in a magnificent form,” or “He entered the city in a magnificent state,” and the like, and had they nevertheless claimed that the form and state meant something created, this would not have been as untenable as what they have claimed concerning the wording of the revealed texts. For the expressions “in a form” and “in a state” are indefinite and affirmative, without specifying whose form or state is meant. But when it is said, “in His form which they recognize,” “His form which they do not recognize,” and “in a form other than His form in which they saw Him the first time,” and “form” is said to mean