His shin. Since it is not made definite by attribution to Him, it does not evidently denote one of His attributes without further evidence. Such an interpretation is not a departure from the apparent meaning. Rather, that consists in diverting a verse from what it indicates, conveys, and is ordinarily understood to mean. Yet many of these people assign an expression a meaning it does not convey, then seek to divert it from that meaning and call this interpretation. This is mistaken on two counts, as we have explained more than once.

As for his statement:

“If He were truly light—as those who liken Him to creation falsely claim—there would necessarily be illumination continuously, night and day.”

We accept the implication of this statement of his. Those who liken Allah to creation say that He is light like the sun, whereas Allah Most High says:

“There is nothing like Him.”

He is not like any light, just as His essence is not like any other essence. Yet what the objector has mentioned is an argument against him, for He may be light that He veils from His creation, as stated in the hadith:

“His veil is light—or fire. Were He to remove it, the splendour of His Face would burn everything in His creation that His sight reaches.”

There is, however, an error in the attribution here: assigning this view to those who liken Allah to creation. It is also among the views of the Jahmiyyah, who deny the divine attributes, such as al-Marīsī. He used to say that He is light, although he was a leading figure among the Jahmiyyah. If, however, by those who liken Allah to creation he means those who affirm that Allah is truly light, then everyone who affirms the attributes is, in his view, guilty of likening Him to creation. This is “the language of the pure Jahmiyyah”: they describe everyone who affirms the attributes as someone who likens Allah to creation.

We have already mentioned that Ibn Kullāb, al-Ashʿarī, and others stated that denying that He is light in