He will then ask, “In that case, is He worthy of disbelief?” What do we reply? We say, “He is worthy with respect to the one for whom He wills obedience, and He is not worthy with respect to the one for whom He wills sin.”

If he goes on to say, “Allah, exalted is He, did not will that a lie be ascribed to Him,” tell him, “Is hurling a firya (fabrication) against Allah an act of speech and articulation or not?” If he replies, “Yes,” say to him, “Who taught Adam all the names?” If he answers, “Allah,” then ask, “Is kufr (disbelief) itself a form of speech or not?” If he says, “Yes,” say, “Who caused the disbeliever to speak?” If he answers, “Allah,” they have thereby refuted themselves, for shirk (associating partners with Allah) consists of utterance, and had Allah so willed, He would not have enabled them to pronounce it.

I then said, “And if he should claim that a man…”