Thus, He denied that they were alike despite their shared humanity. How, then, can it be claimed that the Arabic language entails that everything which can be pointed to is like everything else which can be pointed to?

Allah Most High says:

{Have you not seen how your Lord dealt with Ād—Iram of the lofty pillars, the like of which had never been created in the lands?}

[al-Fajr: 6–8]

He states that no like of it had been created in the lands, even though each is a land. How, then, can it be claimed that, in the Arabic language, every body is like every other body, such that His words are interpreted accordingly:

{There is nothing like Him}?

A poet said:

There is none like the young man Zuhayr.

Another said:

Among mankind, there is indeed no mortal like them.

By this, he did not intend to deny the existence of any body whatsoever.

Likewise, the term [resemblance] does not mean exact likeness in the language. Allah Most High says:

{They will be given fruit resembling it}

[al-Baqara: 25],

and He says:

{Similar yet dissimilar}

[al-Anām: 99].

In neither case did He mean something exactly alike in the linguistic sense. The issue here is not whether substances are alike as a matter of rational judgment; that question is discussed fully elsewhere. Rather, the point is that those who speak the language in which the Quran was revealed do not regard this mere fact as grounds for applying the term “like,” nor do they regard the denial of likeness as a denial of that fact. To construe the Quran in that manner is therefore a fabrication against the Quran.