Moreover, the very negation of these attributes is a deficiency, just as their affirmation is a perfection. Life, considered in itself and without regard to the particular being possessing it, is an attribute of perfection. The same is true of knowledge, power, hearing, sight, speech, action, and similar attributes. Whatever constitutes an attribute of perfection, He—glory be to Him—is more deserving of possessing it than created beings. If He did not possess it while a created being did, that created being would be more perfect than He.

Know that the thoroughgoing Jahmiyyah, such as the Qarmatians and those who resemble them, deny that He, the Exalted, possesses either of two contradictory attributes. They even say, “He is neither existent nor non-existent, neither living nor not living.” Yet it is self-evident to reason that possessing neither of two contradictories is impossible, just as possessing both is impossible.

Others describe Him solely in terms of negation, saying, “He is neither living, nor hearing, nor seeing.” These are greater in disbelief than the former in one respect, while the former are greater in disbelief than these in another. When these people are told, “This entails describing Him with the contradictory attributes, such as death, deafness, and muteness,” they reply, “That would follow only if He were capable of possessing such attributes.” This defense only makes their position more unsound.

The same applies to those who resemble them—namely, those who say, “He is neither within the world nor outside it.” When they are told, “This is self-evidently impossible to reason, just as it would be to say that He is neither eternal nor originated, neither necessary nor contingent, neither self-subsisting nor subsisting in another,” they reply, “This holds only if He is capable of such attributes. Such capability belongs only to what has spatial location. Thus, if spatial location is absent, so too is the capacity to possess either of these two contradictories.”