and everywhere without moving from His place, for He is the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all; and the Sustainer of all, he claims, is one who does not move from His place.”

He said:

“This opponent should be told: This, too, is the sort of argument made by women and children, and by someone who can neither explain his position nor provide proof for it. For Allah’s command and mercy descend at every hour and at all times. Why, then, does the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, specify the night rather than the day for His descent, and designate the middle of the night or the hours before dawn?

“Do His command and mercy call the servants to seek forgiveness? Or can His command and mercy speak apart from Him, saying: ‘Is there anyone supplicating, that I may answer him? Is there anyone seeking forgiveness, that I may forgive him? Is there anyone asking, that I may give to him?’ If you maintain your position, you must claim that mercy and the command are the ones who call people to have their prayers answered and to seek forgiveness, speaking themselves rather than Allah. This is absurd even to fools, so how much more so to scholars? You know this, yet you obstinately deny it. And why do His mercy and command descend from Him in the middle of the night, remain only until dawn, and then ascend? For Rifāʿah, who narrates it, says in his hadith: ‘until dawn breaks.’

“You know, Allah willing, that this interpretation