by self-evident knowledge that the messengers proclaimed the resurrection of bodies, and we are fully aware of the objections that seem to stand in its way.

The people of the Sunnah reply to them: We likewise know, with the same self-evident certainty, that the messengers affirmed the divine attributes, and the scriptural passages on the attributes contained in the revealed books are both more numerous and more emphatic than the passages on the resurrection.

They also say to them: It is well known that the Arab polytheists, and others besides them, denied the resurrection; they rejected it when the Messenger preached it and disputed with him about it. By contrast, none of the Arabs ever denied any of the divine attributes.

It is therefore clear that the human intellect acknowledges the attributes more readily than it does the resurrection, and that rejecting the resurrection is more serious than rejecting the attributes. How, then, can it be deemed acceptable that what he reported concerning the attributes should not be as he reported, while what he reported concerning the resurrection must be exactly as he reported?

Furthermore, it is known that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—censured the People of the Book for the alterations and distortions they introduced,