who possess power. This, in turn, implies that He occupies a place. Since being above is more honourable, the supplicant readily imagines that the One whose greatness he affirms, if He is in a direction, must be above. Because of these considerations and others like them, people came to point towards heaven. Later generations then inherited this from earlier generations, while sharing the same conception. Thus it is clear that this arises from familiarity and is not correct.” End of quotation.

The response to him is: What you have said is merely an assertion for which you have offered no proof. The examples you mentioned concerning black people and the Arabic language establish, at most, the possibility that someone might hold a mistaken belief arising from such familiarity. Why, then, do you claim that this is a case of that?

This is like saying: “These people are mistaken in finding this fruit bitter, because a bilious person finds sweet things bitter”; or: “They are mistaken in seeing these two people, because a cross-eyed person sees one as two.” The response would be: Grant that sensory perception can err because of some impairment affecting it. Why, then, do you claim that the sensory perception of these people, despite their great number, has erred because of such an impairment?

Still more astonishing is his statement: “Thus it is clear that this arises from familiarity.” None of this has become clear. All that has become clear is that he has asserted it. That he has clearly made an assertion is not the same as its truth having become clear.