neither acknowledging His existence nor worshipping Him. This constitutes apostasy by the consensus of the Muslims. Likewise, this al-Rāzī apostatized when he enjoined polytheism and the worship of the stars and idols, composing his well-known book on the subject. He did other things besides. Indeed, someone among them more distinguished than he spent a period doubting his Lord and not acknowledging His existence, before subsequently coming to faith. This is widespread and prevalent among them. There is no doubt that such a person is the furthest of all people from reason and religion.

If these people are engaged in debate and addressed, and preparations are made to refute their false views when necessary, then those with a stronger claim to reason and religion deserve such engagement all the more. We cite statements of theirs that show that their position is stronger than that of those who negate the divine attributes. Our purpose here is not to endorse their combination of negations and affirmations, but to show that, in this respect, their position is better than that of those who deny that He is above the Throne, with their own combination of negations and affirmations. An answer has also been given by