the number of His creation and the weight of His Throne.

The third point is that this issue establishes the opposite of what you seek to prove. For it has been affirmed that the Throne has bearers and that it is nevertheless borne both today and on the Day of Resurrection. The apparent meaning of this address is that He is upon the Throne and that the Throne is nevertheless borne, whether or not the address indicates that the bearers of the Throne bear Him. If it also indicates this, then it establishes something even more emphatically contrary to what he seeks to prove.

Then, if he himself takes a position contrary to this verse, he must either offer an interpretation of it or leave the matter to Allah. Thus, the verses affirming the Throne and its bearers, or the angels’ bearing of what is above it, do not negate His being upon the Throne. This attributes to the evidence the opposite of what it entails and requires.

Rather, his assertion that dependence necessarily follows falls under the question of conflicting proofs. It therefore becomes necessary to reconcile what the verse entails with this argument; it cannot be that