Second:

It may be said: There is no doubt that, among the adherents of religions, Allah is noble, generous, glorious and beneficent, abundant in His favors and ever bountiful. His are the most beautiful names, by which He is praised for His goodness to His creation. Yet even if this argument rests on their conceding this, it is not a rational proof but a dialectical argument. This is not philosophy.

Third:

It may be said: When they called Him by these most beautiful names, they used them in the senses they themselves assign to them—senses that do not contradict His will and mercy. Indeed, mercy itself—which you denied because you deny will—or the will to bestow goodness upon His servants, indicates, in their view, beneficence and generosity, with no disagreement among them. However, one group of those who deny the divine attributes identifies mercy with beneficence itself. Some who affirm the attributes agree with them on this, including even some followers of Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him.

A large group of those who affirm the attributes says that mercy amounts to the will to bestow goodness. Some followers of Ahmad also hold this view. However, the leading scholars among those who affirm the attributes, and the majority of them, hold that mercy is an attribute of Allah distinct from will, just as hearing and sight are distinct from knowledge.