Facsimile · p. 200
He is not overtaken by slumber or sleep. Knower of the unseen and the seen. Nothing on earth or in the heavens is hidden from Him. He knows what is in the land and the sea, and not a leaf falls but He knows it. And His saying: "He knows what is in the land and the sea. Not a leaf falls but He knows it." He is capable of what He wills. He is able to do what He wishes. To Him belongs the dominion and the self-sufficiency. And to Him belongs the might and the perpetuity. And the abundance of such expressions may also suggest that he negates attributes and believes in anthropomorphism. However, we find that on rare occasions, he expresses himself using divine attributes separately and attributes them to His exalted self. This is as in His saying: "And to Him belongs might and perfection," and "He has knowledge and choice." This is what Ibn Taymiyyah mistakenly denied, saying that all creatures are subdued by His power. We have seen that he said: "Is it possible that His power is a coincidence of God's attributes?" Does this serve as evidence that Ibn Tumart is among those who affirm attributes and not among those who negate them? This is what some commentators of Al-Murshida have gone with, such as Muhammad bin Yusuf Al-Sanusi. As he says when explaining this last saying: "The creatures are the mentioned worlds and others that only God Almighty knows. And His saying 'subdued by His power' means they are overcome, humbled by the might of His power. And Al-Qahhar is the dominant one. And power is His attribute. So He is Almighty with an ancient power." This is the Imam's response to the Mu'tazilah who deny the attributes of meaning. Between these two seemingly different positions, we find a saying of the Mahdi that we can take as a starting point to discern his true opinion on this matter. And that is His saying: "And when He knows His uniqueness in His oneness, according to what is incumbent upon Him of His might and majesty, then it is incumbent upon the intellect to know that the Creator is living, knowing, capable, willing, hearing, seeing, speaking, without imagining..." Ibn Tumart, Al-Aqida: (41). Ibn Tumart, Al-Murshida: (42). Ibn Tumart, Risala fi Tawhid al-Bari: (43). Ibn Tumart, Al-Murshida: (44). And this has been taken from this (45) and see also: Abdullah Kanun, Aqidat al-Murshida: (12) Al-Sanusi, Sharh al-Murshida: (13-112). From this saying of Abu Zakariya al-Tinnisi, which is the same as Al-Sanusi's explanation. See its verification on page 200 of this research.