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As for the two principles, the first is this:

What is said of some attributes applies equally to others.

If the person being addressed holds that Allah is living by virtue of life, knowing by virtue of knowledge, powerful by virtue of power, hearing by virtue of hearing, seeing by virtue of sight, speaking by virtue of speech, and willing by virtue of will, and regards all of this as literal, yet disputes His love, pleasure, anger, and aversion, treating these as figurative and interpreting them either as will or as certain created things, such as blessings and punishments, then he is told: “There is no difference between what you have denied and what you have affirmed. Rather, what is said of one applies equally to the other.”

If you say, “His will is like the will of created beings,” then the same applies to His love, pleasure, and anger—and this is precisely likening Allah to His creation. But if you say, “He has a will befitting Him, just as a created being has a will befitting it,” you are told: “Likewise, He has love befitting Him, and a created being has love befitting it. He has pleasure and anger befitting Him, and a created being has pleasure and anger befitting it.”

If you say, “Anger is the boiling of the blood in the heart in pursuit of vengeance,” the reply is: “And will is