whereas these stripped Him of His perfect attributes, denied them, and nullified them; thus both parties have deviated in regard to His Names.

The Jahmiyyah and their progeny themselves differ in the degree of this deviation: among them are the extremist, the moderate, and the afflicted,1 and every person who rejects anything2 of what Allah has attributed to Himself, or what His Messenger has attributed to Him, has fallen into deviation therein—whether his share of it be small or great.

Fifth: likening His attributes to the attributes of His creatures. Exalted is Allah far above what the anthropomorphists claim. This deviation stands opposite to the deviation of the negators: those ones denied and rejected His perfect attribute, while these likened it to the attributes of creation. Deviation unites them, though their paths toward it differ.

Allah has absolved the followers of His Messenger, his heirs who uphold his Sunnah,3 from all of that: they describe Him only with what He has described Himself [and with what His Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, has described Him],4 they neither deny His attributes nor liken them to the attributes of His creatures, nor do they divert them from what—