the believers before Him, but not the hypocrites, they followed Him until they crossed the Bridge, as explained in the hadiths of Abū Hurayrah, Jābir, and Ibn Masʿūd. Had the one who came on this second occasion been one of the blessings, they would have followed that created blessing rather than the Lord whom they worshipped. This contradicts the explicit wording of the hadiths and the justice described in the hadith.

Worship necessarily entails perfect love and perfect reverence for the one worshipped, for the object of worship is sought and loved for its own sake, and a person is with those he loves. This is the very essence of justice: that a person should be with the beloved whom he loves perfectly, loving him for his own sake. That being so, it is impossible that the believers should be following anyone other than Allah. The One who came to them is the One they followed; He is therefore Allah, and He is the One who came to them in the form in which they recognized Him.

There is no doubt that, according to the Jahmiyyah, it is impossible for them to follow Allah, just as it is impossible for Him to be the One who comes, to have come to them in a form, to manifest Himself to them laughing, or to uncover His shin. Thus, one of the two must be true: either what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, related is the truth, or what these Jahmiyyah say is true, for the two are utterly contradictory. Whoever knows what was brought by