His descending, nor any other attribute with which He has described Himself or His Messenger has described Him. Rather, the way of the early generations is to describe Allah as He has described Himself and as His Messenger has described Him, without distortion or denial, and without specifying how His attributes are or likening them to those of creation. They neither deny the attributes He has affirmed for Himself nor liken His attributes to those of created beings. Whoever denies them strips Him of His attributes, and whoever does so worships a nonentity. Whoever likens Him to creation equates Him with it, and whoever does so worships an idol. The way of the early generations is affirmation without likening, and declaring Allah free of imperfection without denying His attributes.

As the Exalted says:

“There is nothing like Him.”

This refutes those who liken Him to creation. His words:

“And He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing”

refute those who deny His attributes.

Allah’s actions cannot be likened to the actions of created beings. For created beings are His servants: they commit injustice and indecencies, and He is able to prevent them. Were He not to prevent them, that would be morally bad on His part, and He would be blameworthy for it. Yet this is not morally bad on the part of the Lord, exalted is He, because of the consummate wisdom and abundant blessing He has in it. This is according to the position of the early generations, the jurists, and the majority, who affirm wisdom in Allah’s creation and commands.

Whoever says that He creates nothing for a wise purpose and commands nothing for a wise purpose affirms nothing but sheer will, which gives preference to one of two identical alternatives over the other without any determining reason. This is the foundational principle of Ibn Kullāb and his followers, and it underlies the positions of both the Qadarites and the Jahmites.

As for the other extreme concerning “the question of moral goodness and badness,” it is the position of those who say: