‘Whom do you worship?’ they reply, ‘We worship the One who directs the affairs of this creation.’ We said, ‘Then this One who directs the affairs of this creation is unknown, not known by any attribute?’ They replied, ‘Yes.’ We said, ‘Muslims have recognized that you affirm nothing; you merely ward off condemnation through what you outwardly profess.’”

He first explained that when something is said to exist, but is then described as unlike other things—meaning that it resembles them in no respect whatsoever, but differs from them in every respect—rational people recognize that it is nothing. This is something generally known among rational people.

When he next mentioned whom they worship, they said, “We worship the One who directs the affairs of this creation.” This is a statement about the One who must be worshipped according to religion. When they said, “He is unknown, not known by any attribute,” he said, “Muslims know that you affirm nothing,” because Muslims hold that Allah, Most High, must be worshipped.

Thus, he first cited rational people in general as recognizing that these people affirm nothing, and then the people of religion as recognizing that they worship nothing. In each instance, he mentioned what was appropriate to it. This is because what is unknown is not recognized and therefore cannot be sought or worshipped; and one who is not known