Chapter

As for the statement:

“If real attributes subsisted in Him, He would be dependent on them, while they would be dependent on Him. The Lord would therefore be dependent on something other than Himself,”

it is of the same kind as the first question.

The reply is as follows:

First, the statement:

[If real attributes subsisted in Him, He would be dependent on them]

presupposes the possibility both of a substance in which attributes subsist and of an essence in which no attributes subsist. If either were impossible, this argument would be invalid—so what if both are impossible? An essence divested of every attribute can be conceived only in the mind, not in external reality, just as absolute existence with no determinate instantiation in external reality can be conceived only in the mind.

The term [dhāt] is the feminine form of dhū (“possessor of”), which is used only in a construct with something else. Thus, the Arabs say, “So-and-so possesses knowledge and power,” using dhū, and, “A soul possesses knowledge and power,” using dhāt. Wherever the terms [dhū] and [dhāt] occur in the Quran or in the Arabic language, they occur only in a construct, as in His saying:

{So fear Allah and set right the relations among yourselves}

[Al-Anfāl: 1],

and His saying:

{All-Knowing of what hearts contain}

[Āl Imrān: 119].

There is also the line of Khubayb, may Allah be pleased with him:

“And that was for the sake of God . . .”

and similar examples.