Others permit both negations to be stated together, such as al-Qādī Abū Bakr and al-Qādī Abū Yaʿlā. This disagreement arises because the term “other” may mean something distinct from a thing, or simply something not identical to it. Using ambiguous expressions without qualification can suggest erroneous meanings.

We offer a precise answer: When someone says, “He attains perfection through something other than Himself,” does he mean something separate from Him, or an attribute inseparable from His essence? The former is impossible; the latter is true. His essence cannot exist without its inseparable attributes, just as they cannot exist without Him. This is perfection through Himself, not through something separate from Himself.

The imams—such as Ahmad ibn Hanbal and others—and the leading scholars who affirm the attributes, such as Abū Muhammad ibn Kullāb and others, explicitly stated that when someone says, “Praise be to Allah,” “I called upon Allah and worshipped Him,” or “By Allah,” the name Allah encompasses His essence endowed with His attributes. His attributes are not additional to what His most beautiful names designate.

If it is asked, “Are His attributes additional to His essence or not?” the answer is: If by ‘essence’ one means the bare essence acknowledged by those who deny the attributes, then the attributes are additional to it. But if one means the essence that exists in external reality, that essence cannot exist except with its inseparable attributes. The attributes are not additional to the essence endowed with attributes, although they are additional to an essence hypothetically conceived as devoid of attributes.