it is reported that the human form is in the image of the Most Merciful.” The answer is that this implication also follows from the opponent’s own position. For this reason, he himself raised the objection and answered it, saying: “If it is said, ‘Sharing in the attributes of perfection entails sharing in divinity,’ we reply, ‘Sharing in some remote concomitants, while differing in many respects, does not entail sharing in divinity.’”

He said: “It is in this sense that Allah, Exalted is He, says, ‘To Him belongs the highest description’ [al-Rūm 27], and that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘Adopt Allah’s qualities.’”

It is well known that resemblance consisting in sharing the attributes of perfection—knowledge and power—is greater than resemblance and sharing merely in what is denoted by the word “face.”

Furthermore, this author has stated in his most distinguished work, which he entitled Nihāyat al-ʿUqūl fī Dirāyat al-Usūl (The Ultimate Reach of Intellects in Understanding the Fundamentals), when discussing the question of declaring dissenters to be unbelievers