and denying Him such knowledge is no deficiency. Rather, it is part of the fullness of His perfection, for it entails knowing things as they truly are. There are many comparable examples.

[The third perspective]

His fellow proponents, who maintain that He has no limit in His essence, may say to him:

The statement, “Whatever is infinite has a point above every point within it, so everything within it is below something else,” does not undermine our contention. Our purpose is to establish that nothing other than Him is higher than Him; rather, He is above every existent thing. If you then suppose that there is no part of Him without another part of Him above it, this detracts neither from the intended conclusion nor from His perfection, since whatever is above any part of Him is itself of Him, not something other than Him.

Moreover, something of this kind is unavoidable, and attributes of perfection must be affirmed in accordance with what is possible.

Furthermore, this is a perfection of elevation. It does not detract from one who is high that some part of him is higher than another, provided no part of him is above him.

People also disagree concerning His attributes: are some superior to others, even though they are all perfect and deficient in no respect whatsoever? And is some of His speech superior to the rest, although all of it is perfect?

The early generations and the majority hold that some of His speech is superior to the rest, and some of His attributes are superior to others, although they are all perfect and without deficiency, as indicated by