who have ordained for them a religion that Allah has not authorized?” [al-Shūrā: 21]

It is not a foundation of the religion of Allah and His Messenger. Rather, the foundation of this religion consists of the proofs explained by Allah and His Messenger, as discussed elsewhere. For it is impossible that Allah should send a messenger to call people to Him without that messenger explaining to them the foundation of the religion He commanded them to follow. This is discussed at length elsewhere. On this understanding, nothing these people affirm would contradict imagination or mental imagery, and any basis for accepting that implication would disappear entirely.

Others said:

Rather, we say that the knowledge and power with which Allah is described are termed attributes and qualities; we do not call them accidents. An accident is something that arises and passes away, whereas Allah’s attributes are inseparable from Him, unlike the attributes of created beings, which are transient. For this and other reasons, they committed themselves to the view that none of the attributes of created beings—namely, accidents—persists for two moments.

Then the leading authorities among them said:

Likewise, concerning the face and hand with which Allah has described Himself, we say:

They belong to the same category as knowledge, power, and the bestowal of honor. Rather, the face and hand with which Allah has described Himself are among the descriptions given by Allah and applied to Him. We do not call them bodies, because this is an innovated designation that suggests a false meaning. Nor do we say that they belong to the same category as knowledge, power, and the like. Rather, we say: just as the distinction between knowledge and power, on the one hand, and the face, hand, and the like, on the other, is known among our own attributes—for realities do not differ between what is witnessed and what is unseen—just as, in our own case, a distinction is made between knowledge, power, hearing, and sight, so each