you know this and teach it on the basis of your opponent’s assertion, then his assertion must be true and your position is refuted. If, however, you do not appeal to your opponent’s assertion, which you seek to refute, then this argument cannot serve as a means for you to acquire knowledge or to teach and guide others. At most, it points out an inconsistency in your opponent’s position. Your opponent has answers to this that we need not mention here.

As for his statement in the second argument that the upward direction is distinguishable from the downward direction by pointing, he is told: If one is pointing to the parts of the world above and below us, these undoubtedly exist. But that is not what is meant by the spatial locus and direction in which your opponents maintain that Allah is. They have not said that Allah is inside the world; rather, they have said that He is outside the world. If, however, one is pointing to what is above and below the world, we do not concede that anyone points to anything below the world at all. As for what is above the world, it is Allah who is above the world. Thus, pointing to what is there is pointing to Him—glorified and exalted is He. We do not concede that anything existent above the world other than Allah, Most High, is being pointed to. Thus, you have not arrived at anything nonexistent in any case, nor has anyone pointed to a nonexistent direction in any case. Rather, what is pointed to is not the direction under dispute.

As for his statement in the third argument that if a substance moves from a spatial locus