and hadith—to say nothing of the Jahmiyyah and the Mu‘tazilah—sometimes deny these attributes and distort the texts concerning them, or hold that knowledge of them amounts to mere recitation. Both practices are among those for which Allah Most High censured the People of the Book before us. At other times you acknowledge them in a manner that negates what the texts affirm concerning its being negated by the texts, while abandoning meanings that these texts unquestionably convey. Moreover, their combination of contradictory notions conflicts with the plain dictates of