to anyone who understands it, is among the most corrupt statements ever made by human beings and bears the closest resemblance to the words of madmen.

These are undoubtedly minds ensnared by their Maker: when they deviated concerning Allah Most High’s attributes and sought to uphold their negation, they fell into this vast ignorance.

He thus identified the actual, existing realities that are known and distinct from the knower with the knower’s very knowledge of them. This is undoubtedly more corrupt than identifying knowledge with the knower himself, as some who deny the divine attributes do, such as Ibn Rushd and others like him. Even Abū al-Hudhayl’s position is better than his.

Undoubtedly, anyone who identifies created things themselves with the Creator’s very knowledge of them has advanced a sophistry that constitutes one of the greatest falsehoods against the Creator Most High and His creatures, and whose falsity is among the most obvious to anyone who reflects upon it.

Praise be to Allah, who has made the falsity of the heretics’ statements apparent to everyone possessed of reason, just as their heresy is known to everyone possessed of faith. This is so despite their followers’ reverence for them and their portrayal of this and similar discourse as rigorous inquiry into philosophical knowledge and the theological sciences.

Moreover, he based these plainly false implications on a premise borrowed from others like himself who conceded it to him.

The closest parallel to this position is that of the advocates of unity, who say:

“The existence of the created being is the very existence of the Creator.”