it is permissible to regard them as multiple in us yet one with respect to Allah Most High, and to hold that their locus in Him is unlike their locus in us, then the same may be said of letters: although they are multiple in us, they are one there, and the two loci are not alike.

If it is said, “They occur in sequence in us,” the reply is: meanings likewise occur in sequence in us. Thus, the ordering of one is like the ordering of the other.

If it is said, “The claim that the two are one contradicts plain reason,” the reply is: so too does the claim that the meanings are one. The reasoning of one group is of the same kind as that of the other.

The purpose here is to discuss this underlying principle: the question of attributes connected to His will, such as acts and the like that subsist in Him and are connected to His will and power.

As for the assertion, “The majority hold the contrary view; the disagreement on this is only with the Karrāmiyyah,” this is the statement of someone who thinks that the Muslim groups consist solely of the Mu‘tazilah, the Kullābiyyah, and the Karrāmiyyah. In fact, most Muslim groups allow this, including theologians, scholars of hadith, jurists, Sufis, and others.

As for the leading scholars of hadith and the Sunnah, they are virtually unanimous on this, for the statements of those whose views on