Explanation of the author's statement: ". . . . And its cause may be the lack of capacity, in which case it does not imply praise, as if I were to say: The wall does not oppress."

The Shaykh : Now, "And its cause may be the lack of capacity" means that the cause of the negation may be incapacity, but "lack of capacity" means that this attribute is not accepted by this described entity. It is like if I said, "The wall does not oppress." Someone is talking about our house, and we have a house whose wall does not oppress anyone; its walls do not oppress anyone. What do we say? Is this praise for the wall? There is no praise, because it does not accept oppression; it does not accept oppression. It is like if I said, "I have a wall that is not deaf." What would that be? We do not say that this is a quality of praise, because the wall is not originally blind or sighted, so you cannot praise it by negating blindness. So, the result is that we say: Negation, in its essence as negation, is divided into three categories: sometimes it implies perfection, sometimes it implies deficiency, and sometimes it implies neither this nor that. The negation found in the attributes of Allah all implies perfection. The negation found in the statement "they are unable to realize it"—what is this? It is a deficiency. And negation regarding something that does not accept this negation, that does not accept being attributed with it or being negated from it, is neither praise nor blame. And Allah knows best.

The questioner : Regarding animals...

The Shaykh : Yes

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : What does it accept?

The questioner : Oppression?

The Shaykh : Yes... And for this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us that , and it accepts oppression now. Look, if you bring feed and there is a little bit, this goat comes... the second one, this is oppression.