Moreover, what is self-evident in assent but not in conception depends only on what enables one to conceive the two terms, not on what brings their referents into existence outside the mind. Grant, then, that knowledge of what the name Allah denotes is innate; knowledge of His existence is itself also a matter of assent, just like knowledge of His being above.

Furthermore, the claim that conception must be acquired through definitions is false, as we have explained elsewhere. We have shown that definitions serve only to distinguish what is defined from other things; they do not enable the listener to conceive something he has not conceived independently of them. If conceptions could be known only through definitions, this would lead to circularity. Moreover, whoever formulates a definition must conceive what is being defined before defining it. A definition is a verbal statement or expression, and a statement conveys nothing to the listener unless he has already conceived its individual terms, either in themselves or through something analogous to them, since knowledge of the meaning intended by