it is the Quran; if it is expressed in Hebrew, it is the Torah; and if it is expressed in Syriac, it is the Gospel. Some of them said that it consists of five meanings.

The majority of rational people say that the falsity of this is self-evident once it is fully understood. Large numbers of rational people do not agree upon lies and the denial of self-evident truths without collusion and agreement, as illustrated by mass-transmitted reports. With collusion, however, they may agree to lie deliberately, and they may agree to deny self-evident truths, even though not every individual realizes that he is denying a self-evident truth. He may not even understand the true nature of the position he holds, because he thinks well of the person whose position he blindly follows and is eager to champion that position. Thus, Christians, the Rāfidah, and other groups have agreed upon doctrines whose falsity is self-evident.

The majority of rational people also say: When we translate the Torah and the Gospel into Arabic, their meaning is not thereby the meaning of the Quran. Rather, the meanings of the former are not those of the latter, nor are the meanings of the latter those of the former. Likewise, the meaning of

“Say, ‘He is Allah, One’”

is not the meaning of

“May the hands of Abū Lahab perish, and may he perish!”

Nor is the meaning of the Verse of the Throne the meaning of the verse on debt.

They also said: If you allow distinct realities to be one and the same thing, then allow knowledge, power, speech, hearing, and sight to be a single attribute. The leading proponents of this position acknowledged that they had no rational answer to this objection.