as they claim, He would be bounded. We, however, hold that He is distinct from places and those who occupy them, and above all created things. Thus, our position assigns no limit to His essence.” These are his exact words.

As for al-Rāzī’s statement: “Abū Maʿshar the astrologer mentioned that the reason people came to adopt idol worship as their religion was that, in ancient times, they followed the doctrine of those who liken Allah to His creation. They believed that the God of the world was a great light. Having adopted this belief, they fashioned an idol—the largest of all their idols—in the image of God, and other idols smaller than it in the image of the angels. They devoted themselves to worshipping these idols, believing that they were worshipping God and the angels. Thus it is established that the religion of idol worship