this approach has never been articulated by the Book or the Sunnah, nor has it been transmitted from any of the salaf. It is therefore known to have no basis in revealed law. Most of its proponents concede this, but claim that it is known through reason.
Those who criticize their approach respond:
“This too is false, for one cannot declare Allah, exalted is He, free of any fault or imperfection on the ground that it would entail His being a body. There is no attribute of which someone may say, ‘It entails attributing a body to Him’ (1), except that the same can be said of what he affirms as of what he denies.
“He must necessarily affirm something; otherwise, he would have to deny the eternal, self-necessary Existent. Thus, whenever he says of an attribute, ‘It belongs only to a body,’ the same can be said to him regarding what he affirms. If that attribute is an imperfection, then, were he to seek to declare Allah, exalted is He, free of ignorance, incapacity, sleep, and the like on the ground that these attributes belong only to bodies, he would be told: ‘The names, judgments, and attributes that you affirm likewise belong only to bodies.’”
Hence, the arguments of those who use this approach to refute people who ascribe faults and imperfections to Allah are contradictory. For this reason, neither Allah, nor His Messenger, nor any of the salaf of the Muslim community relied upon this approach when repudiating the Jews and others who ascribed imperfections to Allah, exalted is He—such as stinginess, poverty, weariness, a consort, a child, or a partner.
Moreover, many who follow this approach—even among those who affirm the attributes—say: