the former, for al-Samad conveys the sense of being a unified whole. He, glorified and exalted is He, has declared in exclusive terms that He is al-Samad, to make clear that He possesses this quality in its perfection and truly and fully deserves it, to the exclusion of all others. Everything besides Him is susceptible to separation and division, whereas He, glorified is He, is al-Samad: this quality necessarily belongs to Him, and its opposite—separation—is impossible for Him.

The fact that al-Samad conveys the sense of being a unified whole, of being solid, and the like entails a multiplicity of attributes, for a unified whole necessarily involves multiplicity. Thus, if He had no attributes of His own entailing multiplicity, it would be impossible to call Him al-Samad or solid, or for the quality of being al-Samad to convey the sense of being a unified whole. However the name al-Samad is interpreted, it therefore entails the existence of attributes united in Him. The evidence for this is that the furthest they go in interpreting it so as to deny the attributes is to say that He is the One to whom people turn. As al-Qurtubī said:

“All creatures turn to Allah and are united, in their entirety, in seeking the fulfillment of their needs and asking Allah to grant them. He is thus al-Samad without qualification, the One who provides for the needs of creation.”