“And know—may Allah have mercy on you—that whatever your heart imagines, whatever arises in the course of your thoughts, or whatever passes through your heart—whether beauty, splendour, light, radiance, loveliness, questions that arise, or an imagined figure—Allah Most High is other than all of that. Rather, He is greater, more majestic, and more exalted. Do you not hear His words:

‘There is nothing like unto Him,’

and His words:

‘Nor is there anyone equal to Him’?

“That is, He has no likeness, counterpart, equal, or peer. Do you not know that when He manifested Himself to the mountain, it crumbled beneath His overwhelming majesty and supreme sovereignty? Just as nothing to which He manifests Himself remains unshattered, so no one imagines what He is like without perishing. Thus, what Allah Himself has explained about Himself in His Book refutes any likeness, peer, counterpart, or equal.

“If you hold fast to these truths and protect yourself from Satan, he will approach you by urging you to deny the attributes of the Lord—exalted and holy is He—mentioned in His Book and the sunnah of His Messenger Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He will say to you: ‘If He is described as such-and-such, or you describe Him thus, that necessarily likens Him to creation.’ I declare him a liar, for the accursed one seeks only to make you stumble, lead you astray, and cause you to adopt the characteristics of those who deviate from the truth, stray, and deny the attributes of the Lord Most High.

“And know—may Allah Most High have mercy on you—that Allah Most High is One, unlike any other one: unique, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, nor is there anyone equal to Him.”

He went on to say:

“His sublime names belong exclusively to Him and have applied to Him from eternity, expressing true realities. He Most High did not acquire an attribute that He had previously lacked, or a name that had not previously been His—blessed and exalted is He. Thus, He was the Guide who would guide, the Creator who would create, the Provider who would provide, the Forgiver who would forgive, and the Doer who would act. Nor did there newly arise for Him