incapacity, knowledge rather than ignorance, life rather than death, hearing rather than deafness, sight rather than blindness, and speech rather than muteness, so too He is described as possessing joy rather than sorrow, laughter rather than weeping, and so forth.

Moreover, reason has established what revelation affirms: that He—glorified is He—has no equal or peer, and nothing is like Him. His reality therefore cannot be like the reality of any created being, nor can the reality of any of His attributes be like that of any attribute of created beings. It is thus known with certainty that He does not belong to any category of created beings: neither angels, nor the heavens, nor stars, nor air, nor water, nor earth, nor human beings, nor their bodies or souls, nor anything else. Indeed, it is known that His reality is further removed from resemblance to anything in existence than all other realities are, and that any resemblance between Him and any of them is more remote than the resemblance between the reality of one created being and that of another. For if two realities are alike, whatever is possible for either is possible for the other, and whatever is necessary for either is necessary for the other.

It would then follow that nonexistence and need, which are possible for a created being brought into existence, would also be possible for the beginningless Creator, whose existence is intrinsically necessary. What is affirmed of the one would also have to be affirmed of the other, including necessary existence and passing away. Thus, the same thing would be both intrinsically necessary and not intrinsically necessary, both existent and nonexistent. This combines two contradictories.

This demonstrates the falsehood of the position of those who liken Allah to His creation, saying, “Sight like my sight,” or “A hand like my hand,” and similar things. Exalted is Allah far above what they say!