is described as not being encompassed, while His being seen is affirmed. This is impossible according to their position, for they claim that this can apply only to something divisible, one part of which can be seen separately from another.

There would then be seeing without full apprehension or encompassing. Yet they hold that He can only be seen in a single, uniform manner, just as they say of His speech that it is a single entity, neither divisible nor multiple; and of faith in Him that it is a single entity admitting neither increase nor decrease.

As for full apprehension and encompassing, which go beyond mere seeing, their absence, according to them, is not due to the Lord’s greatness, but because His essence cannot admit them—just as the Muʿtazilah say that His essence cannot be seen. Moreover, neither they nor the Muʿtazilah wish to recognize any apprehension by the eyes distinct from seeing itself, whether seeing is affirmed or denied. For such a distinction invalidates both the Muʿtazilah’s denial that He can be seen and these others’ affirmation of seeing without direct beholding or face-to-face encounter.

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This is despite the fact that Ibn Fūrak is among those who affirm the attributes known through revelation, such as the Face and the two Hands, as well as coming and approaching, in agreement with Abū al-Hasan. For this is the position of Abū al-Hasan and his early followers.