does not vary in degree,” this is tantamount to saying, “The ability to do one and the same thing does not vary in degree,” or, “Seeing one and the same thing does not vary in degree.” Yet it is well known that people differ in how clearly they see the same crescent moon. Likewise, they differ in their perception of the same sound. Two people may utter the same word yet differ in how they pronounce it. They may likewise differ in their perception of the smell or taste of the same thing.

There is no attribute of a living being, no form of its perception or movement—indeed, no attribute even of things other than living beings—that does not admit differences of degree beyond human reckoning. Thus, it may be said: no created being knows anything in every respect as Allah knows it. Rather, Allah’s knowledge of a thing is more perfect than anyone else’s knowledge of it, however the matter is conceived. The difference between these two kinds of knowledge is not merely that one has a beginning while the other is eternal; they differ in other respects as well.

A person experiences within himself varying degrees of knowledge of the same object, just as he experiences varying degrees in hearing the same sound, seeing the same object, exercising his ability to do the same thing, loving what he loves, hating what he hates, being pleased with what pleases him, being displeased with what displeases him, willing what he wills, and disliking what he dislikes. Whoever denies differences of degree in these realities is a sophist.

(The fifth respect)

These matters vary in degree because of the causes that give rise to them. Someone whose assent and love rest on evidence that produces certainty and exposes the falsity of an intervening doubt is not on the same footing as someone whose assent rests on lesser grounds. Indeed, someone granted immediate knowledge that he cannot dismiss from his mind is not on the same footing as someone who is confronted by