I say: This is not the place for a detailed discussion of this matter. His statement, “Quiddity entails a genus,” means only that there must be something belonging to the same genus as Him—that is, something resembling Him in His essential reality. But this does not follow. Whoever affirms that He has a quiddity—the reality peculiar to Him by which He is distinguished from all else—is not thereby committed to regarding that quiddity as belonging to the same genus as other quiddities. Likewise, those who apply the term “essence” to Him are not thereby committed to regarding His essence as belonging to the same genus as all other essences.

If, however, this is understood as affirming some shared aspect between the two, then that is unavoidable in any case. The term “genus” has several technical usages. If it is understood in a sense that entails a counterpart to Allah, then it is inapplicable to Him. But if it is understood as the linguistic definition signified by terms that apply equally or in varying degrees, as in the name