taken apart except with difficulty. Hence He, glorified be He, says, “Allah is al-Samad (the Eternal Refuge),” using a form that expresses exclusivity: He alone is al-Samad in the true sense. Even if another is called samad, it does not possess that attribute to perfection. He says, “Allah is One,” not “the One.” It is well known that describing Him with a definite noun is more emphatic than describing Him with an indefinite noun. How, then, can His being al-Samad be figurative, while His oneness is literal?

The seventeenth point: Allah Most High mentions these two attributes in this surah, which is equivalent to one third of the Quran. Through them, He negates composition in Himself—the corporeality that is inapplicable to Him—and negates His having an equal—the resemblance that is denied of Him. Thus this surah provides the clearest exposition of the resemblance and corporeality that must be denied of Allah Most High.

We have explained more than once that the term “resemblance” contains considerable ambiguity, and that every faction accuses those who affirm certain things of likening Allah to others. Any two existing things must share some kind of resemblance, even if only in certain remote respects. To deny this in every respect is to deny existence itself. Hence this author cited the consensus of the Muslims—the consensus of the Muslims—on the existence of such