These are all attributes of perfection that none but He deserves. How, then, could that which none but He deserves be a perfection in another, when it is absent from all others? Whoever lays claim to it is a fabricator contending with the Lord over the attributes exclusive to His lordship.

As authentically reported from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—he said:

“Allah Most High says: ‘Greatness is My lower garment, and majesty is My cloak. Whoever contends with Me over either of them, I shall punish him.’”

In sum, no one else has any share in the perfection exclusive to lordship. This establishes that He possesses a perfection in which no one else has any share. Such perfection cannot belong to another; laying claim to it is a challenge to lordship and a fabrication against Allah.

It is well known that prophethood is a perfection in a prophet. Yet when impostors such as Musaylima and his like claimed it, this was a deficiency in them—not because prophethood is a deficiency, but because the deficiency lies in its being claimed by one who does not possess it. Likewise, if someone devoid of knowledge, power, and righteousness were to claim them, he would be blameworthy and detested.

This entails that the Lord Most High possesses a perfection that is not fitting for any created being. This does not conflict with the principle that whatever constitutes perfection for an existent insofar as it exists belongs more properly to the Creator. Rather, it means that when a created being is described by the perfection proper to it, and the Creator is described by the perfection proper to Him, what belongs to the Creator neither resembles nor even approaches what belongs to the created being.

This is true. The Lord Most High deserves perfection that is uniquely His, in a manner in which nothing resembles Him. He has neither peer nor equal, whether this perfection is something of which nothing can be affirmed for a created being—such as lordship over His servants,