Meanwhile...

Meanwhile, the way of knowing whether an attribute is one of the perfections of the Self-existent or one of particular existential perfections (natural creatures) is to take away contingent ( imkānī ), physical ( māddī ) and natural ( ṭabī‘ī ) traits from it. The concept which remains after the purging is one of the Attributes of existential perfection [of the Absolute Being].

However, if the essence of the said attribute also ceases to exist after purging those traits, it follows that the said attribute is one of the perfections of a particular being and not the Self-existent. For example, knowledge in the human being has some characteristics and after purging knowledge of those characteristics, nothing remains except discovery ( inkishāf ) and presence ( ḥuḍūr ). That is, the reality of the known ( ma‘lūm )…