branches of the fundamentals of religion—namely, discourse concerning the Lord of the worlds, His names and His attributes—when such grievous shortchanging and withholding of what is due occur there? They use their own standards of reasoning to invalidate what Allah has instilled in His servants’ innate disposition and revealed in His Books, yet forbid others to use those same standards against them, although they provide stronger evidence against them than in their favour. This is among the gravest forms of ignorance and injustice. Praise be to Allah, who has spared us what He has afflicted many of His servants with, and greatly favoured us over many of those He has created.

This is further established by the fact that affirming or denying anything concerning a thing presupposes a conception of it. A person may not deny something of a thing or affirm it of that thing without first conceiving of it in a way that makes such denial and affirmation possible. Thus, if someone says of an existing being that it is a body, a substance, occupies space, is in a direction, is above the world, or something else; or says that it is neither a body nor a substance, does not occupy space, is neither in a direction nor above the world; or says that it has knowledge, power and life; or says that it has neither knowledge nor power nor life—then each