sought to amend his position, treating that cause as prior to other things, as al-Fārābī and others did. Some then regarded it as commanding the celestial sphere to move. Yet the sphere moves to resemble it, just as a lover moves for the sake of the beloved, even though the latter has neither awareness nor intention. They regarded it as a governor in this sense—as Ibn Rushd and Ibn Sīnā did—and held that its essence necessitates the existence of everything else, while everything else is contingent.

[The Fifth]

The fifth argument:

It may be said: the most that revelation establishes—if it establishes this at all—is that Allah is not a body. Many, or most, of those who affirm the attributes accept this negation. Some reject it, some suspend judgment, and others make distinctions concerning it.

We shall proceed on the assumption that this negation is accepted, and say:

Nothing in this negation establishes the correctness of the position of any of those who deny the attributes or names. Indeed, it does not even establish that He, glorified be He, is free of any imperfection.

For when someone denies an attribute on the grounds that affirming it entails corporealism and likening Allah to His creation, the one who affirms it says to him:

“My position concerning the attributes and names I affirm is like yours concerning those you affirm.”

Thus, if they dispute the attributes known through revelation, Allah’s being above His creation, seeing Him, or similar matters, and the one who denies them says:

“This entails corporealism and likening Allah to His creation, because nothing possessing such characteristics can be conceived of