so they accepted it from him just as they accepted the first principles of divine oneness from the plain meaning of his words, ‘There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah.’”

He went on to discuss the affirmation of His Self, moving from the general to the particular:

“He said to Moses, peace be upon him:

‘I have chosen you for Myself.’

And He said:

‘Allah warns you of Himself.’

The truth of this is further confirmed by what the Messiah, peace be upon him, brought, for he said:

‘You know what is within myself, whereas I do not know what is within Yourself.’

And He, Mighty and Majestic, said:

‘Your Lord has prescribed mercy for Himself.’

He, peace be upon him, further confirmed the validity of affirming this in his Sunnah, saying:

‘Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: “Whoever remembers Me within himself, I remember him within Myself.”’

And he said:

‘He wrote with His Hand a decree binding upon Himself: “My mercy has prevailed over My wrath.”’

And he said:

‘Glory be to Allah, to the measure of His own good pleasure.’

And, concerning Adam’s debate with Moses, he said:

‘You are the one whom Allah chose and selected for Himself.’

Thus, through the plain meaning of His words, He explicitly affirmed a Self for Himself, and the Messenger affirmed this for Him. Whoever believes Allah and His Messenger must therefore believe what He has stated about Himself, basing this upon the plain meaning of His words:

‘There is nothing like Him.’”

He then said:

“All believers, elite and ordinary alike, must accept everything reported from him, peace be upon him, through transmission from one upright narrator to another in a chain reaching him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Among the things Allah has enjoined upon us in His Book, with which He has described Himself and whose truth the Sunnah confirms, is His statement:

‘Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.’

Then, immediately thereafter, He said:

‘Light upon light.’

And he invoked Him by this description