the sun alone, for just as the sun surpasses everything in the world, so the First Cause surpasses all existing things, excelling them beyond all comparison. He said: “And just as the sun governs all things in one and the same way.”

Abū al-Hasan al-Ashʿarī also said: “The Rāfidīs, adherents of the imamate, differed over ascribing a body to Allah. They form six groups. The first is the Hishāmiyya, followers of Hishām ibn al-Hakam al-Rāfidī. They claim that the one they worship is a body with an extremity and a boundary.” He related something similar to what was previously reported from Hishām, adding that they did not specify any length other than length itself; rather,