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The objector then said:

Abū al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzī said in his refutation of the Hanbalīs:

“They have affirmed for Allah, glorified be He, an eye, a form, a right and a left, a face in addition to His essence, a forehead, a chest, two hands, two legs, fingers, a little finger, a thigh, a shin, a foot, a side, a waist, a back and a front, ascending, descending, hurrying, and 'ujb. They have indeed completed the whole bodily form, yet they say: ‘This is to be understood in its apparent sense, but these are not bodily organs.’ People like these should not be addressed, for they defy reason, and it is as though they were speaking to children.”

I say:

This statement must be examined from several perspectives:

First: exposing the partisanship marked by ignorance and injustice that it contains, before discussing the substantive scholarly question.

Second: showing that it is a refutation entirely devoid of argument or evidence.

Third: showing the weakness of its transmitted material and its reasoning.

As for the “first” point: Abū al-Faraj did not compose the work from which his words were quoted