against you, you will embrace our religion; and if your argument prevails against us, we will embrace yours.’ Among the things they said to Jahm was, ‘Do you not claim that you have a god?’ Jahm replied, ‘Yes.’ They asked him, ‘Have you seen your god?’ He replied, ‘No.’ They asked, ‘Have you heard Him speak?’ He replied, ‘No.’ They asked, ‘Have you smelled any scent of His?’ He replied, ‘No.’ They asked, ‘Have you sensed Him?’ He replied, ‘No.’ They asked him, ‘Have you touched Him?’ He replied, ‘No.’ They said, ‘Then how do you know that He is a god?’

Jahm was bewildered and, for forty days, did not know whom he worshipped. Then he hit upon an argument like that of the heretics among the Christians. These Christian heretics claim that the spirit within Jesus is the spirit of Allah, from Allah’s very essence; when He wishes to bring something about, He enters one of His creatures and speaks through that creature’s tongue, commanding whatever He wills and forbidding whatever He wills, while He is a spirit hidden from sight.

Jahm then hit upon a similar argument and said to the Sumanī, ‘Do you not claim that there is a spirit within you?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’ Jahm asked, ‘Have you seen your spirit?’ He replied, ‘No.’ He asked, ‘Have you heard it speak?’ He replied, ‘No.’ He asked, ‘Have you sensed it or touched it?’ He replied, ‘No.’ Jahm said, ‘Likewise, Allah has no face that can be seen, no voice that can be heard, and no scent that can be smelled. He is hidden from sight and is not in one place to the exclusion of another.’

He found three ambiguous verses in the Quran, including His words:

“There is nothing like unto Him” [al-Shūrā 11],

and “He is