; rather, when they conceived of Him in terms of what He shared with others, they came to associate partners with Him. They made negative or affirmative judgments about that shared element, and these are valid in general: whatever is denied of the general, shared concept is also denied of the distinct particular, whereas denying something of the distinct particular does not entail denying it of the general.
Thus, whatever you deny of animals or prophets is also denied of human beings or messengers. But denying something of human beings or messengers does not entail denying it of animals or prophets. This is why his saying,
“There is no prophet after me,”
also rules out any messenger after him. Likewise, whatever is universally affirmed of the shared concept is also affirmed of the particular, whereas whatever is affirmed of it without qualification need not be affirmed of the particular. If a judgment applies to every prophet, it includes messengers. If, however, it applies to a prophet without qualification, it need not apply to a messenger.
A combination of negative and affirmative propositions may yield descriptions that apply only to Him and cannot rightly be applied to anyone else—just as a prophet may be described by a combination of attributes found in no one else. Yet this establishes only that nothing else is identical to Him; He Himself is not made known through the combination of those universal propositions. Thus, provided the syllogism is sound, all that the intellect gains through syllogistic reasoning concerning the Lord is knowledge of negation and absence.
This is why the examples set forth in the Quran—which are rational forms of inference—establish negation, as in His saying:
“He presents to you an example from yourselves. Do you have, among those whom your right hands possess, any partners in what We have provided for you?”
—and the rest of the verse; and His saying:
“And Allah presents an example of two men,”
—and the subsequent verses; and His saying:
“O mankind, an example is presented, so listen to it. Indeed, those you invoke besides Allah,”
—and the rest of the verse; and His saying:
“Say: If there were other gods with Him, as they claim,”
—and the rest of the verse; and His saying:
“Allah has not taken