absolute realities shared by individual entities; and he will know that no other shares in any way in what is proper to the Lord Himself, and that no created thing resembles Him in any attribute. As for a created being, another may resemble it in its attributes, but shares with it only those attributes that properly belong to it. Univocal terms applied to both are used literally of each. When these terms are general, they encompass both; when they are unrestricted, conceiving of the two does not preclude their sharing in them; and when they are qualified, they apply specifically to their respective subjects.
Thus, when one says, “Allah’s existence, Allah’s essence, Allah’s knowledge, Allah’s power, Allah’s hearing, Allah’s sight, Allah’s will, Allah’s speech, Allah’s mercy, Allah’s anger, Allah’s rising above, Allah’s descent, Allah’s love, Allah’s will,” and the like, all these terms apply literally to Allah Most High, without including any created thing and without any created thing resembling Him in them.
When one says, “The servant’s existence, his essence, his quiddity, his knowledge, his power, his hearing, his sight, his speech, his rising above, and his descent,” these terms apply literally to the servant and specifically to him, without his attributes resembling those of Allah Most High.
More striking still, Allah has told us that Paradise contains the foods, drinks, garments, and spouses He has mentioned in His Book. He has told us that it contains milk, honey, wine, meat, silk, gold, silver, houris, palaces, and the like. Yet Ibn ‘Abbās said:
“Nothing of what is in Paradise is found in this world except the names.”