you permit seeing Him, then seeing the angels and jinn is all the more possible. But if you say, “Rather, seeing Him is impossible,” it is said: “He is then (1) imperceptible to the senses, so the judgment of the imaginative faculty cannot be accepted concerning Him (2); and the judgment that everything visible must be in a direction is itself a judgment of the imaginative faculty.”

If, however, we suppose (3) an existent imperceptible to the senses that is seen without being in a direction—[a seeing] (4) unlike the seeing that pertains to things situated in a direction (5)—then denying this would be the same as denying an existent that is neither inside the world nor outside it. [Otherwise], if (6) the existence of this existent is established, the seeing (7) that pertains to it would be suited to it and would not be like the familiar seeing of bodies.

When this method and similar methods of rational disputation are pursued, they show that the closer a person is to the Sunnah, the closer his position is to reason. This requires supporting (8) by reason those who are closest to the Sunnah. Yet because [some of] those closest (9) to the Sunnah conceded to those farthest (10) from it premises common to both sides—premises that are, in reality, false and contrary to revelation and reason—their position could not accord with the reality of the matter, nor could it be defended by sound revelation or clear reason (11) for anyone whose aim is to know the truth as it is, rather than to demonstrate the superiority of some positions over others.