and it is enough for a believer to know that these people portray the Quran in this way. Is this not akin to the words of those who split the Quran into parts, dividing it through falsehood and saying, “It is poetry, sorcery, or a fabrication”? In fact, this is even more repugnant. For those people agreed on the grandeur and lofty standing of this discourse in both wording and meaning. They did not claim that its apparent meaning describes the Creator in terms that would not even be used of apes and swine. If this were the Quran’s apparent meaning, it would provide one of the strongest arguments for those who split the Quran into parts.

We shall show in several ways that this is not the Quran’s apparent meaning.

First, Allah Most High simply says:

“Sailing under Our eyes” [al-Qamar 14].

And He says:

“Have they not seen that We created for them livestock from what Our hands have made?” [Yā Sīn 71]

Thus, the assertion that its apparent meaning is many eyes and many hands is a blatant fabrication, for a plural form, taken by itself, does not indicate a large number at all.

Second, his claim that the apparent meaning of the Quran is that Allah has a single side bearing many hands is also false. Where does the Quran say that the hands are on the side? The most he can do is