it may be said to him] (1): Ahl al-Sunnah have a greater claim than the Shi'a to declaring Him exalted above resemblance to created beings. No sect within the Muslim community is known to engage more extensively than the Shi'i sects in likening Allah to created beings and ascribing corporeality to Him in ways that contradict reason and revelation. Indeed, all the heresiographical works ascribe to the early Shi'i leaders, concerning such resemblance and corporeality, doctrines contrary to reason and revelation, the like of which is not known from any other sect. Moreover, the early and later Imāmiyya contradict one another on this issue: their early authorities went to extremes in likening Allah to created beings and ascribing corporeality to Him, whereas their later authorities went to extremes in negating and denying the divine attributes. In this they aligned themselves specifically with the Jahmiyya and the Mu'tazila, unlike the other sects of the Muslim community.

As for Ahl al-Sunnah, who affirm the caliphate of the first three caliphs, all their leading authorities and well-known groups agree that Allah Most High has no equal or likeness. Those among the groups affirming the caliphate of the first three who applied the term “body” to Allah—such as the Karrāmiyya—are closer to sound transmitted evidence and clear rational evidence than those among the Imāmiyya who applied the term “body” to Him.

The positions of the Imāmiyya on this matter have been related by more than one of their own scholars (2), as well as by others, just as