The reply is: Do you mean by “space” something that exists, something determinate whether existent or nonexistent, or something considered without further qualification? If you mean the first, then, according to the opposing party, the Lord—glory be to Him—need not occupy space in this sense; nor, indeed, according to any known group.

If you mean the second, the opposing party does not concede that He occupies space in this sense. If you mean the third, then the reply is that His occupying a particular space is not a necessary consequence of His essence; rather, it is by His choice.

If He assigns particular spaces to whichever of His creatures He wills, His freedom of action with respect to Himself is greater than His freedom of action with respect to His creatures.

As for your statement, “He has no greater claim to that space than other substances, since they necessarily share the same essential character,” this is an untenable argument, for the following reasons:

First: Allah assigns whichever spaces He wills to whichever substances He wills. It is not said, “This has no greater claim than that.” How, then, can it be said that He has no greater claim than some of His creatures to what He is capable of and chooses?

Second: The reply is that every substance has a space peculiar to it, to the exclusion of other substances, whether or not this is called its natural space. It is thus clear that mere commonality in every space