and whom some people denied; for those who believed in and obeyed him benefited from him. He was thus a mercy to the believer who believed in and obeyed him (1), whereas the disobedient person was himself at fault.

As for this Awaited One, neither those who believed in him (2) nor those who disbelieved in him (3) derived any benefit from him. As for the rest of the Twelve apart from Alī (4), the benefit derived from any one of them was comparable to that derived from their peers among people of knowledge and religion, such as teaching knowledge, narrating hadith, issuing legal opinions (5), and similar services. By contrast, the benefit expected from imams vested with authority and the sword was not realized through a single one of them. It is therefore evident that his claim that divine grace and benefit were brought about through the imams is nothing but deception and falsehood.

[The Fourth Argument: Ahl al-Sunnah’s Position on Allah’s Justice and Wisdom]

The Fourth Argument:

His assertion concerning Ahl al-Sunnah—that they did not affirm justice and wisdom, and held it possible for Him to do what is evil and fail to do what is obligatory—is a false attribution to them in two respects:

The first is that many among Ahl al-Sunnah who do not maintain that the caliphate was explicitly designated (6) for Alī, nor affirm the imamate of the Twelve, nevertheless affirm the justice and wisdom he mentioned in precisely the sense in which he himself presents them. Indeed, his own teachers took this doctrine from such people, including the Mutazilah and others with whom later (7) members of the Rāfidah agreed concerning divine decree. Thus, what he reports about all Ahl al-Sunnah