  Ibn Daud identifies the intelligences, which are also referred to as elevated, simple, separate or incorporeal substances, with the angels in Scripture that are intermediaries between God and man. Indeed, it is precisely their function as secondary causes that turn them into an indispensable element in his thought. Firstly, he uses the angels to avoid the unworthy notion that God should occupy himself with the particulars of the terrestrial world, which would imply plurality in divine knowledge. According to Ibn Daud, the angels are entrusted with this task. Secondly, Ibn Daud needs the notion that the angels are intermediaries for the interpretation of certain biblical texts that seem to imply a change of will in God, which is tantamount to plurality in his essence. His solution is that such verses refer not to God, but to various classes of intermediaries instead. By this interpretation, which is the outcome of philosophical reasoning, Ibn Daud also sought to counter the charges of anthropomorphism that were made by the Muslim theologian Ibn Hazm.