and this is something we have perceived through the senses in the essence as a whole. The attribute thus shared the character of the essence to which it belonged, being part of it and related to it as a part is to the whole. As for the face attributed to the Creator, Most High, we attribute it to Him in itself just as we attribute His essence to Him. It has been established that the Creator’s essence is not described as a composite body possessing quantity and subject to quality, and that His intrinsic nature is not known. The apparent meaning of His attribute of face is therefore that, likewise, its intrinsic nature cannot be apprehended, its modality cannot be ascertained, and it is not subject to the divisibility that derives from quantity. These are properties only of substances combined into bodies, and Allah is exalted above that.

If it were permissible for someone to say this concerning hearing, the face, sight, and similar attributes of the essence, seeking thereby to depart from the apparent meaning of such an attribute to some other meaning on the basis of conditions of this kind established in observable things, then