what lay on that side were below, it would follow that the sun, the moon, and the heavens, when they appear to us, are beneath that side of the earth and beneath whatever is there. It would also follow that the celestial spheres are always beneath the stars, and the sun and moon beneath the earth. This is utterly absurd.

It is astonishing that these deniers, in seeking to invalidate Allah’s Book, the Sunnah of His prophets and messengers, the consensus of the early generations of the Muslim community and its imams, and what Allah has ingrained in His servants’ innate nature, made inescapable for them when they turn to Him and supplicate Him, and supported with self-evident rational proofs, should rely on an argument of this kind. Their sole basis for it is mere imagination and false supposition, even as they claim that they are the ones who uphold the dictates of reason and reject those of supposition and imagination.

Anyone with knowledge knows that the assertion that the sun, the moon, and the stars revolving in the celestial sphere are beneath the earth at night is a judgment arising from mistaken supposition and false imagination, with no reality outside the mind. Yet through this corrupt supposition and imagination, they seek to invalidate the clear dictates of reason and authentic transmitted texts concerning the greatest of foundational principles. They also seek to prevent hearts from turning to their Creator and worshipping Him through this same corrupt supposition and imagination, which confuse those who do not understand what their claims actually mean.

The second response:

It may be said: You maintain that no rational proof has been established to rule out imperfection in Allah Most High, as al-Rāzī stated, taking this from Abū al-Ma'ālī and others like him. They rule out imperfection only through proofs from revelation, and their principal reliance in this is upon