or magnitude—these being what is meant by modality and quantity—is like positing an existent that subsists neither in itself nor in another, that is, neither as a substance nor as an accident.

For this reason, the early generations and the leading scholars would say that the modality is neither comprehended nor known, and that Allah, Almighty and Majestic, has a limit known only to Him. They consistently deny that human beings know the modality of the Lord and His attributes, or His limit and the limits of His attributes. They do not deny that these are real in themselves; rather, they deny our knowledge of them.

This is clarified by the fact that what the leading speculative theologians have said concerning attributes may equally be said concerning magnitude. The teacher Abū al-Ma'ālī said: “The early Mu'tazilites held that God's reality is His beginninglessness, and that this is His most distinctive attribute. Some said that His reality is the necessity of His existence. Abū Hāshim said: