beyond the mind’s immediate grasp of their true nature, revealed teachings, in calling people to them and warning against them, would not indicate them directly, but would express them through various analogies that bring them within reach of understanding. How, then, can the existence of one thing prove the existence of another when, even if the latter were not as supposed, the former would remain as it is? All this discussion serves to explain to anyone seeking to belong to the elite rather than the common people that the apparent meaning of revealed teachings cannot be invoked as evidence in matters such as these.”

I say: These are Ibn Sīnā’s words. These and similar statements are made by his counterparts among the esoteric Qarmatians, such as the author of al-Aqālīd al-Malakūtiyya (The Keys of the Heavenly Realm) and other heretics like him. This discussion has two aspects:

First: demonstrating that the implications he presses upon those who deny the divine attributes—the Jahmiyya, including the Mu‘tazila and others, who call their denial “monotheism”—do indeed follow from their position.