two entities—are sometimes understood in an unrestricted, general sense encompassing both kinds, and sometimes as restricted to a particular entity. When terms such as ‘living,’ ‘knowing,’ ‘powerful,’ ‘hearing,’ ‘seeing,’ ‘existent,’ ‘thing,’ and ‘essence’ are used generally, they encompass the necessary existent. But when it is said:

“And rely upon the Ever-Living who does not die,”

“Allah—there is no deity worthy of worship except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all existence,”

“And He is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise,”

or similar expressions referring specifically to the Lord, these do not encompass the creature. Likewise, when it is said:

“He brings the living out of the dead,”

the Creator is not included in the designation ‘the living’ here.

Similarly, terms such as knowledge, power, speech, rising, and descent are sometimes used in an unrestricted, general sense. At other times, one speaks of Allah’s knowledge, power, speech, descent, and rising. These are specific to the Creator; the creature has no share in them. Likewise, when one speaks of the creature’s knowledge, power, speech, descent, and rising, these are specific to the creature; the Creator has no share in them. Thus, a possessive construction or definite designation specifies and distinguishes the referent, eliminating the shared application between Creator and creature.

Likewise, when the term ‘existence’ is used without qualification, and when one speaks of ‘the existence of the necessary’ and ‘the existence of the contingent,’ these are three meanings.

When one speaks of the servant’s existence, essence, quiddity, and reality, these expressions refer specifically to him, denoting his own particular essence, characterized by its attributes.