The word literally means to suspend and stop the work[1][2] and refers to a form of apophatic theology which is said because God bears no resemblance to his creatures and because the concepts available to man are limited and depends on his perceptions of his surroundings, so he has no choice but to remain silent about the divine attributes and suffice with the explanations given in the Quran and hadiths.
[3][4] Taʿṭīl is the polar opposite of tashbīh (anthropomorphism or anthropopathism), the ascription to God of physical characteristics or human attributes such as emotion.
The followers of the schools of Jahmiyyah,[15][16] Muʿtazila[17] and Isma'ilism[18] and philosophers and sages[19][20] have also been called muʿaṭṭila or ta'tili by their opponents, although this type of naming may not be fair.
Hereof, it has been narrated from the prominent eighth-century Islamic religious scholar and jurist Sufyan ibn ʽUyaynah that: The interpretation of what God has described Himself in the Divine Book (Quran) is that we should recite it and remain silent about it.
Thus, by presenting proving attributes for God, the human intellect has been able to remove some of the non-existent concepts expressing the imperfection and weakness of the divine essence.