Al-Shaʿbi said, “Whoever is a liar is a hypocrite” (1).

The purport of these citations is that Allah, the Exalted, says:
“So that no soul may say, ‘Alas for me for what I neglected in my duty toward Allah, for I was indeed among the scoffers’ (53); or may say, ‘If only Allah had guided me, I would surely have been among the God-fearing’ (54); or may say, when it sees the punishment, ‘If only I had another chance, I would be among the doers of good’ (55). No! My revelations did come to you, yet you rejected them, waxed arrogant, and were among the disbelievers” (56) [39:53-56].

The verse reports what such a soul—described as it has been—will utter. Most of these souls have no knowledge at all that Allah possesses a janb, nor do they affirm it, as we plainly observe in this world. How, then, could the apparent sense of the Quran be that Allah Himself told of them knowing such a thing, when He says of them: “Alas for me for what I neglected in my duty toward Allah”? Neglect (tafrīṭ) is either an act or a failure to act; it cannot exist within Allah’s essence—neither in a janb nor in anything else—but is something external to Allah (2), and this is self-evident and perceptible.

Hence the plain meaning of the Quran shows that the speaker’s words, “Alas for me for what I neglected in my duty toward Allah,” do not mean he has placed his action or inaction in a janb that would constitute one of Allah’s attributes or limbs. Where, then, in the wording of the Quran is there any indication that Allah has only a single janb, understood as one physical side?

Seventh: Even if we were to concede that the outward sense of the Quran affirms a janb as an attribute, from where—outwardly or inwardly—does it indicate that this janb is but one, a single side? It is well known that