Thus, the people of the Sunnah affirm His existence and the perfection of His existence, whereas those others describe Him as lacking perfection of existence or as not existing at all. They both liken Him to creation and negate His attributes: both their likening and their negation are contrary to reason and revelation.

As regards reason, they have likened Him to nonexistence and lifeless bodies. As regards revelation, they have equated the attributes conveyed by the messengers with the very attributes of created beings—even though the likeness they claim the scriptural texts convey is less extreme than the likeness they themselves assert.

Their negation, judged by reason, is a negation of the attributes that necessarily entails the nonexistence of His very being. Consequently, many of them have been driven to deny His being altogether. They have followed Pharaoh’s path, acknowledging only the existence of created things, although they may dissemble by professing meaningless words or engaging in acts of worship with no object of worship.

As for their negation of revelation, they have denied the meanings contained in Allah’s scriptures and distorted words from their proper places. Or they have said, “We are like the unlettered, knowing the Scripture only as mere recitation,” or, “Our hearts are veiled.” Concerning the Book and the Sunnah brought by the Messenger, they have said much the same as the disbelievers said: