on the other side, because water naturally lies above earth. Yet this side is distinguished by the fact that water is kept from covering it.

It is reported in the Musnad that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Every night, the sea asks its Lord for permission to drown the children of Adam, but its Lord prevents it.”

Natural philosophers and mathematicians have been perplexed by the reason this side remains dry, to the point that they have said: “This is due to the Lord’s providence,” even though, by their own standards, saying this undermines their doctrines.

If this is so in the observable world, what prevents there being, above the celestial spheres on this side, something possessing a distinctive quality that entails the Lord’s being above it specifically from this direction?

[Continuation of al-Rāzī’s discussion in Lubāb al-Arba‘īn]

As for his statement:

“If His extension in the upward direction has no limit, then every point has another above it, so nothing can be posited within it without being below something else. If it has a limit, then above its upper extremity there is a void higher than Him, so His elevation would not be absolute.”

[Responses from several perspectives: the first]

It may be said: The Most High, the Highest, is He above whom there is absolutely nothing. As the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said in the authentic hadith:

“You are