any attribute of action belonging to Him, according to them. If they attribute qualities to Him on the basis of what He creates in another, they must say: He is in motion, black, white, tall, short, sweet, bitter, sour, and so forth, among the qualities He creates in another.

Moreover, they contradict themselves: one group describes Him by the speech He creates in another, while the other describes Him by everything created in another. It is thus clear that He is characterized only by what subsists in Him, not by what He creates in another. This is the very nature of an attribute: anything described is described only by what subsists in it, not by something separate from it that is an attribute of something else. If they also deny that attributes subsist in Him, they must conclude that He has no attributes, whether of essence or of action.

If they say, “We have called the act an attribute only because He is described in terms of action, and is thus called Creator and Provider,” the reply is: No one who affirms the attributes can consistently say this, for according to them an attribute subsists in the one described; it is not merely the statement of the one describing.

If this is said by someone who holds that an attribute is simply a description—merely the statement of the one describing—then, unless that statement accords with reality, the speaker is lying. This is why description occurs in the Quran only in connection with falsehood: it is a description that subsists in the one describing, without anything corresponding to it subsisting in the one described. Thus, Allah, glorified is He, says:

“He will repay them for their descriptions.”

“Do not falsely declare with your tongues, ‘This is lawful and this is unlawful,’ fabricating lies against Allah.”

“They attribute to Allah what they dislike, while their tongues falsely claim that the best will be theirs.”

“Glory be to your Lord, the Lord of Might, far above what they describe.”

It has, however, also been used in connection with truth, in the report recorded in the two Sahīhs from ‘Ā’ishah:

“That