something you know—He is unlike it.’

We said, ‘He is something.’ They replied, ‘He is something unlike other things.’ We said, ‘People of reason know that something unlike other things is nothing.’ At that point, it became clear to people that they were putting forward nothing—in one copy: ‘affirming nothing’—but merely shielding themselves from reproach.

When asked, ‘Whom do you worship?’ they said, ‘We worship the One who governs the affairs of this creation.’ We said, ‘Is this One who governs the affairs of this creation unknown, with no attribute by which He can be known?’ They replied, ‘Yes.’ We said, ‘The Muslims now know that you follow nothing at all; you merely shield yourselves from reproach by what you outwardly profess.’

We then asked them, ‘Is this One who governs affairs the One who spoke to Moses?’ They replied, ‘He has never spoken and does not speak, because speech is possible only through a bodily organ, and bodily organs are excluded from Allah.’

When an ignorant person hears their words, he supposes that they are among those who hold Allah in the greatest reverence, unaware that they are merely steering their argument toward a falsehood about Allah.