this, as anyone who understands the truth as it really is and understands people’s intentions will recognize.

For this reason, people described the Sālimiyyah as proponents of indwelling, for Abū Tālib was a follower of Abū al-Hasan ibn Sālim, a companion of Sahl ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Tustarī.

People hold four positions on this issue:

Some affirm only indwelling and union, as does the author of al-Fusūs and others like him.

Others affirm that Allah is above creation, together with a form of indwelling. This is the position attributed to the Sālimiyyah, or to some of them. Certain statements of Abū Tālib and others might be said to indicate this.

Others affirm neither distinctness, nor indwelling, nor union. This is the position of the Mu‘tazilah and those among the Ash‘arīs and others who agree with them.

The fourth position affirms that the Creator is distinct from the created, without indwelling. This is the position of the early generations of this community and its leading scholars.

Anyone who adopts any form of indwelling is committed to the Creator’s dependence upon something other than Himself, and that other’s independence from Him. For if that which indwells in another has no need of it in any respect, indwelling is impossible, whether that which indwells is said to subsist in itself or in something else.

If a proponent of indwelling says:

“I affirm an indwelling unlike that of bodies or accidents; thus, this does not entail His dependence upon anything else in this regard.”