he should be asked: “Do you mean that the word denotes an essence and reality without further qualification, or a self-subsisting essence and reality that necessarily entails life, action, and the like?” The former is not conceded; the latter is conceded.

This makes clear that those who take the middle course affirm the truth affirmed by each of the two groups and reconcile their positions. One group affirms that the word denotes essence without further qualification, while the other affirms the specific attribute. Those who take the middle course affirm both, for the word denotes both the essence and the specific attribute.

As for his statement, “‘And I have chosen you for Myself’ (41) [Tā Hā 41] functions as an emphatic expression conveying added force, for when someone says, ‘I have made this house for myself,’ emphasis is understood,” he should be asked: “Emphasis presupposes that the meaning being emphasized is established. What, then, is the meaning emphasized by these words?” He has not established this meaning, nor has he clarified whether the emphasis lies in mentioning the word nafs (self) or in its attribution to Allah Most High. Others have said