did Abū Hāmid, al-Rāzī, and others. The inconsistency in Ibn Fūrak’s statements is further illustrated by what he said in another work:

“If someone asks, ‘Where is He?’ the reply is: He has no modality for us to describe, unless the question is, ‘What are His acts like?’ His acts include honoring whomever He wills and humbling whomever He wills, and He is the Maker of all things.”

Here he rejected inquiry into modality, whereas there he permitted it, saying: “Modality means an attribute, and He possesses attributes.” The same applies to asking what He is. In that work he said:

“If the Jahmiyyah ask, ‘What is He?’ they are told: ‘What’ may inquire about a genus or an attribute within the questioner himself. If you mean to ask about His attributes, the answer is knowledge, power, speech, might, and greatness.”

In the other work he said:

“If someone asks, ‘Tell us about the One you worship: what is He?’ the reply is: If you mean, ‘To what genus does He belong?’ He belongs to no genus. If by asking, ‘What is He?’ you mean, ‘Point Him out to me so that I may perceive Him with my senses,’ He is not present to the senses.

“If by asking, ‘What is He?’ you mean, ‘Guide me to Him through the wonders of His workmanship and the manifestations of His wisdom,’ then the evidence pointing to Him is established. If you mean, ‘What is His name?’ we say: He is Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful, the All-Powerful, the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.”