as some of this has already been related. Zurārah ibn A'yan and others like him say:

“Badā’—a matter becoming newly apparent—is possible with respect to Him: He may judge a matter and then something He did not know becomes clear to Him, whereupon His judgment is overturned because His error has become apparent to Him.”

If people such as these claim that it is impossible for the consequences of their actions to be hidden from the prophets and the Imāms, they have exempted human beings from error while deeming error possible for Allah. The same applies to Hishām ibn al-Hakam, Zurārah ibn A'yan, and others like them who say that He comes to know what He did not previously know.

It is well known that this is among the gravest deficiencies that could be attributed to the Lord. If, despite this, they say that nothing contrary to what they foresaw ever becomes apparent to the prophets and the Imāms, they are asserting that, in a case such as this, they never come to know something they did not know before, while deeming this possible in some other case.

As for the claims made by their extremists—that Ali is divine or a prophet, or that Gabriel erred in delivering the message—they are too grave even to be mentioned here. There is no doubt that associating partners with Allah and religious excess lead their adherents to treat human beings as equal to God—indeed, as superior to God in some respects. Allah mentions the polytheists, saying:

{They assign to Allah a share of the crops and livestock He created and say, “This is for Allah”—so they claim—“and this is for our partners.” Yet what is set aside for their partners does not reach Allah, while what is set aside for Allah reaches their partners. Evil indeed is their judgment.}

[Surah al-An'ām: 136]

And He Most High says:

{Do not insult those whom they invoke besides Allah, lest they insult Allah spitefully out of ignorance. Thus We have made the deeds of every community appealing to them.}

[Surah al-An'ām: 108]

When their gods were reviled, these people reviled Allah in retaliation, thereby placing their gods on a par with Allah—and even above Him in their hearts. Likewise, you find many polytheists loving the rivals they have taken besides Allah more than they love Allah Most High. You will also find one of them swearing by Allah and lying,