and kayfiyyah (modality). Hence Shaykh Abū Muhammad ibn Abī Zayd said: “They do not contemplate the quiddity of His essence.” Shaykh Abū ʿAlī ibn Abī Mūsā, Shaykh Abū al-Faraj al-Shīrāzī al-Maqdisī, and others said: “His quiddity cannot be conveyed in words, nor can His modality be conceived in the mind.”

Some speculative theologians claim that they have attained full knowledge of Him and that He has no reality beyond what they know of Him. Many of the Jahmiyyah, the Muʿtazilah, and those who agree with them make this claim. These people say that He has no reality, quiddity, or modality beyond what they know of Him.

This has been discussed at length elsewhere, including the disagreement between Dirār ibn ʿAmr and others, and what was said by