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As for the claim:

“If they were asked, ‘Which is more perfect: a being endowed with every mode of sensory perception—taste, smell, and touch—or one that is not?’ they would answer, ‘The former is more perfect,’ yet they do not describe Him as possessing them.”

Those who affirm the divine attributes reply:

There are three well-known positions concerning these modes of perception.

The first is to affirm them of Allah Most High, just as hearing and sight are affirmed of Him. This is the position of Qādī Abū Bakr and Abū al-Ma'ālī, and I believe it is the position of al-Ash'arī himself. Indeed, it is the position of the Basran Mu'tazilites, who describe Him as possessing these modes of perception.

They and others hold that all five forms of sensory perception may likewise have Him as their object, just as vision does. Qādī Abū Ya'lā agreed with them on this in [al-Mu'tamad], among other works.

The second is the position of those who deny these three modes. They are likewise denied by many who affirm the divine attributes, including the attribute-affirming theologians and others. This is the position of groups of jurists among the followers of al-Shāfi'ī and Ahmad, as well as many followers of al-Ash'arī and others.

The third position affirms perception through touch but not through taste, because taste pertains only to food: only one who eats can possess the sense of taste, and only something eaten can be tasted. Allah—glorified is He—is exalted far above eating. Touch, however, is unlike taste, for it is analogous to vision. Most of the people of