exists. Their sharing in what is designated by “existence” does not entail that the existence of one is like the existence of the other. Rather, each has an existence peculiar to it. Their sharing a general name does not imply that they are alike in what that name designates when attributed to a particular subject, specified, and qualified, nor in any other respect.

No rational person, upon being told that the Throne is an existing thing and that a mosquito is an existing thing, would say that one is like the other merely because both are designated by “thing” and “existence.” There is no independently existing thing outside the mind, distinct from the two, in which they both share. Rather, the mind abstracts a shared, universal meaning, which is what the unrestricted name designates. When we say that this exists and that exists, the existence of each is peculiar to it, and no other shares in that existence, even though the name genuinely applies to each.

For this reason, Allah has given Himself names and has given His attributes names. When attributed to Him, those names are specific to Him, and no other shares in them. He has also given some of His creatures names which, when attributed to them, are specific to them. These correspond to the divine names when detached from attribution and specification. Yet the correspondence between the two names, and the likeness and identity of what they designate when used without restriction and stripped of attribution and specification, do not entail that they correspond or designate like realities when attributed to particular subjects and applied specifically—still less that what they then designate is one and the same.

Thus Allah has called Himself living, saying:

“Allah—there is no deity worthy of worship except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all existence.”

He has also called some of His servants living, saying:

“He brings the living out of the dead and brings the dead out of the living.”

Yet the living one in the first passage is not like the living one in the second, because His expression “the Ever-Living” is a name for Allah, specific to Him, whereas His words: