set up equals to their Lord, and the position of the disbelievers who deny their Lord. For they say that all things that know by virtue of knowledge, are powerful by virtue of power, are living by virtue of life, and so forth belong to a single kind and are alike, because they occupy space, and all things that occupy space are alike. They also say that all things that are above something belong to a single kind and are alike, because they occupy space, and all things that occupy space are alike. They further say that all things possessing hearing and sight belong to a single kind and are alike, because they are among the things that occupy space, which are alike.

All of this is the position of the Jahmiyyah—the Muʿtazilah and others. Al-Rāzī followed this approach in asserting that bodies are alike, but his purpose was to deny Allah’s being above the Throne and to deny the attributes known through revelation. As for the Muʿtazilah and other Jahmiyyah who first introduced this position, their purpose was unrestricted negation.

All of this rests on their having assigned to Allah an equal, a namesake, and a counterpart in every attribute ascribed to Him. Indeed, their extremists among the heretics and the Jahmiyyah say that everything called living