And this is among the clearest matters known [necessarily] (1) to be part of the religion brought by the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. It is the affirmation that Allah alone is worthy of worship: there is no deity except Allah (2).

As for the claim that the pre-eternal, beginningless being is one, this wording is found neither in the Book of [Allah] nor in the Sunnah of [His Prophet] (3). In fact, (4) “the Pre-Eternal” does not occur among the names of Allah Most High, although “the First” is one of His names.

Statements are of two kinds. Whatever is explicitly stated in the Book [and the Sunnah] (5) must be affirmed by every Muslim. Whatever has no basis in revealed text or consensus need neither be accepted nor rejected until its meaning is known.

Thus, the statement, “The pre-eternal, beginningless being is one, and Allah alone is characterized by beginninglessness and pre-eternity,” is ambiguous. If what is meant is that Allah, together with the attributes that necessarily belong to Him, is alone pre-eternal and beginningless, to the exclusion of His creatures, then this is true. This, however, is the doctrine of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamāʿah.

But if what is meant is that the pre-eternal, beginningless being is an essence possessing no attributes—no life \ 8 11) (6), no knowledge, and no power—because, if it possessed attributes (7), they would share with it in pre-eternity and would be deities like it, then—