It is also reported that a man asked Ibn ʿAbbās—may Allah be pleased with them both—to explain a verse. He replied:

“What assurance do you have that, if I explained it to you, you would not disbelieve in it? Your disbelief in it would consist in denying it.”

This makes clear that not everyone is suited to knowing every branch of knowledge. Hence Allah Most High says:

“He sends down rain from the sky, and the valleys flow according to their capacity,”

through to His words:

“Thus Allah presents examples.”

Al-Raʿd, 17. This is a parable Allah has given: He likens the knowledge and faith He sends down from heaven to rain, and hearts to valleys. Some valleys are small and others large, and each flows according to its capacity.

This and similar observations are true. Yet the realities these heretics claim to disclose are, in fact, negation and denial of the divine attributes. Knowledgeable, discerning hearts reject them far more strongly than the hearts of ordinary people do. The stronger a man’s intellect and the greater his knowledge, the more clearly he recognizes their falsity. Thus, a man responds to them only to the extent that his intellect and religion are deficient.

As for his statement:

“Granted that the Noble Book follows Arabic usage in metaphor and figurative expression, what do they say about the Hebrew Book, which, from beginning to end, consists of nothing but descriptions likening God to creation?”

—and the remainder of his remarks—the response is:

This is among the strongest arguments that those who affirm the divine attributes can advance against those who deny them,