He also said:

“Anything compared to something else resembles it only in certain respects, not in others; it does not resemble it in every respect. For if it were like it in every respect, it would be that very thing, not something else. We have explained that these letters resemble the letters of the Quran; they are therefore distinct from them.” End of quotation.

I say:

These are the words of Judge Yaqūb and others like him, although he is the most eminent of those who discussed this question. Since his answer contained elements contrary to the scriptural texts, scholarly consensus, and reason, Ibn Aqīl and other leading scholars of the school, who were better versed in it, disagreed with him.

Ibn Aqīl answered the objection of those who said, “This is like that,” as follows:

“Sharing a common reality does not imply that both are brought into being. Likewise, His being knowing consists in His apprehending a thing, according to your principle, or His knowing it, according to our position, in the manner in which any one of us apprehends it; yet He is not like us in our being knowing. Similarly, His being powerful means that He—glorified and exalted—is capable of acting, but His power is not of the kind that we possess. Thus, there is no sharing of a common reality, while there is a distinction between eternity and being brought into being.”

He said:

“Another answer”:

We do not say that Allah speaks His speech in