As for this man, however, he explicitly states that there is nothing but absolute existence permeating determinate existents. Yet what is absolute does not exist in an absolute form: in external reality there is no absolute body under the condition of absoluteness, no absolute human being, and no absolute animal under the condition of absoluteness. Rather, it exists only in something determinate.

Realities may be considered in three respects: generality, particularity, and absoluteness. When we speak of an animal, human being, body, or existence in a general sense, this occurs only in knowledge and language. Outside these, nothing exists in external reality that encompasses two things. Thus, generality is a property that can attach to the attributes of a living being. We therefore speak of knowledge, will, or anger that is general in scope, and of a general statement or command.

The possessor of an attribute may also be described as acting generally, as in the hadith in Sunan Abī Dāwūd:

“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, passed by Ali while he was supplicating and said: ‘Ali, include others, for the superiority of a general supplication over a particular one is like the superiority of heaven over earth.’”

Another hadith relates:

“When His words, ‘And warn your closest kindred,’ were revealed, he addressed people both generally and specifically.”

Muslim narrated this through Mūsā ibn Talha from Abū Hurayra.

An attribute may likewise be described as general in scope, as in the hadith concerning the tashahhud (testimony of faith in prayer):

“Peace be upon us and upon Allah’s righteous servants. When you say this, it reaches every righteous servant of Allah in heaven and on earth.”

As for the unqualified assertion that generality is a property of words alone, this is incorrect. The meanings of words that subsist in the heart are more properly described as general than the words themselves; and the other attributes