What is the meaning of God's attributes being identical to His essence, and what is the position of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah regarding this statement?

Among the Ahl al-Sunnah, attributes (sifat) are defined as qualities that subsist in the essence (dhat), such as knowledge (ilm) and power (qudrah). These are an addition to the mere essence, and in reality, there is no essence devoid of attributes. The Mutazilah deny the attributes, arguing that they would lead to the multiplicity of gods, stating that Allah is knowing by His essence, not by knowledge. This is a false statement, both rationally and intuitively. As for the Ahl al-Sunnah, they differentiate between the concept of attribute and essence, and they do not say that the attributes are identical to the essence or other than it, because this phrase contains an ambiguity that could imply a corrupt meaning. For the attributes are not identical to the essence conceived by the mind as mere, yet they are not other than the described; rather, the described with His attributes is one single entity, not multiple. As for the saying, "Allah's attributes are other than Allah," it is false, because the term "Allah" encompasses His attributes, whereas the term "essence" does not include the attributes.