from among the believers. Likewise, many other innovations—such as al-rafḍ (Shiʿite rejectionism) and al-tajahhum (Jahmism)—had their origin with the hypocrites, yet many believers became tainted by some of them; but their faith was diminished (1) only in proportion to the share they took with the people of hypocrisy and falsehood (2).
Eleventh Point:
They (3) make their aim plain—as their own leaders and idols openly assert—when they claim that there is no Lord above the Throne, that nothing at all exists beyond the created universe, let alone a Necessary Being above it.
We reply: The falsity of this assertion is known with absolute certainty: by the innate rational disposition (4), by demonstrative rational proofs, by the definitive auditory proofs of revealed faith, by the mass-transmitted reports conveying meaning from the Best of Creation, by Qur’anic evidence on the matter—verses that run into the “hundreds” (5)—by hadiths unanimously accepted by the scholarly imams in every generation, by the consensus of the Salaf of the ummah and the guides among its imams, by the agreement of all nations according to their natural constitution and primordial nature; and whatever is cited to the contrary consists merely of specious doubts,