what is sought; and they were able to question the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and to question one another.

They had asked him about matters less momentous than this. They asked him, “Will we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection?” and he answered them. Abū Razīn also asked him, “Does our Lord laugh?” He replied, “Yes.” Abū Razīn said, “We shall not lack goodness from a Lord who laughs.”

Then, when they asked him about (seeing Him), he said, “You will see your Lord as you see the sun and the moon.” Thus, he compared the act of seeing to the act of seeing, not the One seen to the objects seen. The deniers do not say that He will be seen as the sun and the moon are seen. Rather, their actual position is that He cannot be seen at all. Those among them who say that He will be seen, outwardly agreeing with those who uphold affirmation while concealing their disagreement, interpret seeing as an increase in knowledge; it would therefore not be like seeing the sun and the moon.

The point here is that they would inevitably ask him about their Lord whom they worshipped, and, if they asked him, he would necessarily answer them. It is known beyond doubt that what the Jahmī deniers say has not been transmitted by anyone who conveyed his teachings. Rather, they transmitted from him what accords with the position of those who uphold affirmation.

(The fourth argument is as follows:

Either Allah loves for us to believe the position of the deniers, or to believe the position of those who uphold affirmation, or to believe neither.

If what He requires of us is to believe the position of the deniers—namely, that He is neither within the world nor outside it, and that there is not above