—on the assumption that whoever loves the two of them must, by that very fact, hate ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him), and that whoever hates him is a Nāṣib. The Ahl al-Sunnah challenge the first of these premises.

For this reason such people say that two things cannot resemble each other in one respect while differing in another, whereas the overwhelming majority of rational thinkers hold the opposite view. We have discussed this at length elsewhere, setting out the proofs of those who claim that all bodies are identical, the proofs of those who deny that claim, and exposing the unsoundness of the position that affirms their identity.

Moreover, resting the rejection of tashbīh on this line of reasoning is invalid. Once the uniformity of bodies is posited, they can refute a given attribute only with the very argument by which they deny corporeality. If it is shown that the attribute entails corporeality, and corporeality itself is impossible, that alone is sufficient to negate the attribute; it is unnecessary to invoke the mere label of “likening.” Their denial of corporeality is in fact built upon denying this supposed likeness: they say, “If He possessed such-and-such an attribute He would be a body, and all bodies are identical, therefore they must share in whatever is necessary or permissible …”