for there to exist a living, knowing (1), and powerful being that possesses neither life, knowledge, nor power. Thus, affirming the names without the attributes is sophistry in rational matters and Qarmatian distortion in matters known through revelation.

The same applies to his statement:

“He is not a body.”

The term “body” here is ambiguous. It may mean a composite whose parts had been separate (2) and were then assembled; something susceptible to separation and detachment; a composite of matter and form; [or a composite of discrete parts known as indivisible atoms] (3). Allah [Most High] (4) is exalted above [all of that]: above having once been dispersed and then assembled (5); being susceptible to separation and partition, whereby one part of a thing parts (6) from another and becomes detached from it; or any other form of composition that is impossible [for Him] (7).

Alternatively, “body” may mean something that can be pointed to, something that can be seen, or something in which attributes subsist. Allah Most High will be seen in the Hereafter, His attributes subsist in Him, and, when supplicating, people direct their hands and hearts (8), faces, and eyes toward Him.

If by his statement:

“He is not a body,”

he intends this sense—