the well-guarded record (1) of His Book; they proceed with it, unaware of any alternative. They possess no knowledge of their own, nor do they seek anything else.

Thus He is near without being conjoined—meaning: near through His knowledge—while He is distant (2) without diminution. He brings realities to pass without resembling His creation; He exists without being divisible.

Naʿīm said: One must not say, “A part of Him is on the Throne and a part of Him is on the earth.” He is perceived through His signs and confirmed by His proofs; He is the Most Great, the All-Exalted (3)—blessed and exalted is He.

I say: The authenticity of this wording ascribed to Ibn ʿAbbās is debatable, and the stronger likelihood is that it is not his statement. Nūḥ b. Abī Maryam has isolated reports of this type. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Naʿīm b. Ḥammād cited it in the books he composed in refutation of the Jahmiyyah, and he expressly denied any notion of divisibility in the sense he clarified. This is something (4) about which the Muslims have no misgivings, and it is affirmed by His—exalted is He—saying: “Say: He is Allah, One (1); Allah, the Eternal Refuge (2)” (5) as we have discussed at length elsewhere (6) when addressing those who have misinterpreted this sūrah.

There is likewise no doubt that the expressions “some,” “part,” and “other” are ambiguous terms that invite misconception and obscurity, for they may be applied to an entity of which one portion can exist apart from another—allowing its parts to separate and detach from one another—or it may be possible