it, and they are his opponents on this question. He himself stated in his greatest work, Nihāyat al-'Uqūl, that there is no rational proof for denying it. He therefore cannot establish a rational proof against them on this matter. His ultimate recourse was to an alleged consensus that He—glorified and exalted—is not characterized by imperfections: if something that comes to be is an attribute of perfection, then He must previously have been deficient; and if it is not an attribute of perfection, there is consensus that He—exalted is He—is characterized only by attributes of perfection. We have discussed his argument elsewhere. If there is no rational proof for this, it cannot validly counter what his opponent maintains is self-evidently known by innate disposition.

One of the most astonishing things is his statement about the assimilationists—by whom he means the Karrāmiyyah and the Hanbalīs—that they agreed with his claim that knowledge of