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Al-Rāzī then said: “Tenth: Knowledge of Allah’s acts and attributes is more accessible to reason than knowledge of His essence. Yet those who liken Allah to creation agree with us that knowledge of Allah’s acts and attributes runs contrary to the judgment of sense perception and imagination.”
The reply is: If you mean that Allah’s acts and attributes are affirmed without any likeness, this is true. For nothing is like Allah, whether in His essence, His attributes, or His acts. As He, Most High, says:
“There is nothing like Him.”
[al-Shūrā 11]
And He, Most High, says:
“So do not draw comparisons for Allah. Indeed, Allah knows, while you do not know.”
{74}
[al-Nahl 74]
This is because we know a thing only by perceiving the thing itself, or by perceiving something that may be its like or resemble it in some respects. Allah knows all things, whereas we do not know. Thus, we have no right to draw comparisons for Him without knowledge.
But if he means affirming something that sense perception or reason knows does not exist, this is false. This has already been discussed at the beginning of this introduction, where we explained the difference between