the weaker its proponent’s arguments are compared with those of someone whose error is less.

Since the position of those who deny the divine attributes is further from the truth than that of those who ascribe corporeality to Him, the arguments of the former are weaker than those of the latter. Since the malady of denying the attributes is more grievous, the divine scriptures devote greater attention to refuting those who deny them. The divine scriptures affirm the attributes of perfection in detail, while declaring Him free of having any equal in them. Rather, they affirm His names and attributes and deny that He resembles created beings, offering detailed affirmation and general negation. They affirm that Allah is Ever-Living, All-Knowing, All-Powerful, All-Hearing, All-Seeing, All-Forgiving, Merciful, Loving, and possesses other attributes. Alongside this, they affirm that He has no rival, no likeness, no equal, and no namesake.

The Most High says:

“There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.”

[al-Shūrā: 11]

His words, “There is nothing like Him,” refute those who liken Him to created beings, while His words, “and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing,” refute those who deny His attributes.

Hence the saying: “The one who likens Him to created beings worships an idol, while the one who denies His attributes worships a nonentity.”

The point here is that these deniers cannot establish an argument against the extreme proponents of corporeality who attribute imperfections to Him—even those who repeat what is reported of some Jews: that He wept over the Flood until His eyes became inflamed, and that He bit His hand in remorse until it bled, and other such assertions that are among the most corrupt and gravest in unbelief. These deniers, who say that He is inside the world and not outside it, have no rational argument with which to refute such false assertions. How, then, could they refute less extreme falsehoods, let alone positions that are true?