(Ijtima'). Allah, the Real is both Essence and Divinity. The Real, as Divinity, may come together with His creation. Allah descends and the slave ascends to meet within a mutual waystation. But such a 'coming together' is impossible for the Essence Itself, Which is Incomparable and Inaccessible.
(Dhat). The Essence. This is Allah in Himself without regard to His creations, His Attributes or His Names. The Essence is beyond knowledge or conceptualization. Allah warns us of this aspect of Himself. The Essence is Absolute Blindness, the Hidden of the Hidden, the Unknown of the Unknown. This is the World of Absolute Non-manifestation.
(Hahut). The word hahut derives from 'huwa'. 'Huwa' means 'He' and He is the One, the Absolute, the Infinite, the Incomparable, the Unknowable, the Only One to be praised and glorified.
(Huwa). This is the Supreme Self, the Non-Manifest Being. Huwa indicates the Essence Itself which is always in the Unseen and remains in Itself Incomparable.
(Tanzih). Incomparability or Transcendence or Unknowableness or Remoteness. Tanzih is to declare that Allah transcends every quality or attribute possessed by His creatures. The word tanzih derives from the word nazzaha, which means to keep something away from anything contaminating or impure. The rational faculty declares Allah's Incomparability, but this is only half of the Absolute Truth, because Allah has both Transcendence and Similarity (tashbih). Allah says in The Qur'an, "Nothing is like Unto Him" (42:11). This is Allah's Incomparability (tanzih). But the same verse continues, "and He is the all-Hearing, the all-Seeing". This is Allah's Similarity (tashbih). The Absolute Truth is Allah's Incomparability and His Similarity. The 'knowers through Him' know Allah through Allah, by combining the declaration of His Incomparability (tanzih) with the affirmation of His Similarity (tashbih). Allah as the Essence Itself is Utterly Incomparable, while Similarity is attributed to Allah as the Divinity.
