—can any of those you associate with Him do any of these things?”

The same applies to guiding, leading astray, teaching, raising up, sending, and addressing. Likewise, He tells us:

“He completed them as seven heavens in two days.”

“He fashioned them into seven heavens.”

And He says:

“We built the heaven with might.”

“He who made the earth a resting place for you and the sky a canopy, and sent down water from the sky, bringing forth fruits thereby as provision for you.”

And in another verse:

“He who made the earth a settled abode for you and the sky a canopy, formed you and perfected your forms, and provided you with good things.”

Such passages are very numerous in the Quran.

Examples of intransitive actions include His words:

“Then He rose towards the heaven.”

“Then He rose over the Throne.”

“Are they waiting for anything but for Allah to come to them in canopies of clouds?”

“Are they waiting for anything but for the angels to come to them, or for your Lord to come, or for some of your Lord’s signs to come?”

And His words:

“And your Lord comes, with the angels, rank upon rank.”

As for the first kind, Muslims agree that it is attributed to Allah and that He is the One who creates and provides; this is not an attribute of any of His creatures. But does an act—namely, creation—subsist in Him, or is the act identical with what is done, and creation identical with what is created? Those who affirm that He possesses attributes hold two views on this. As for