then what if it involves attaining perfection through another? For it is well known that a deficient being that attains perfection through another is better than a deficient being that attains perfection neither through itself nor through another.

This argument and others like it show that these Jahmīs, despite their denial of Allah’s attributes—which they have clothed in the garb of declaring Him free of imperfection—do not declare Allah Most High free of the deficiencies and faults from which He must be declared free. Rather, they attribute poverty, need, and other such qualities to Him, as we have explained elsewhere. The leading scholars of their speculative theology admit that reason does not require declaring Allah free of deficiency. They merely take premises that others have conceded to them, then invoke these against those very people to invalidate their religion.

This is the way of the hypocrites who dispute using the Book of Allah Most High, as in the report transmitted both as a statement of ‘Umar and as one traced back to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: “I fear for my community only the lapse of a scholar, a hypocrite’s disputation using the Quran, and leaders who lead astray.” And likewise in the hadith narrated by ‘Abd al-Malik ibn ‘Umayr from Ibn Abī Laylā