just as when one of us is on a roof.”

The affirmer replied: “The sky is above the earth, yet has no need of it. Likewise, the Throne is above the heavens, yet has no need of them. If many things that are above others have no need of them, how could it necessarily follow that the Creator of all creation—the Self-Sufficient, upon whom all depend—needs that which He is above? He Himself is its Creator, Lord and Sovereign, while that created thing is merely one of His creatures, dependent on Him in all its affairs. If a created being’s being above anything of which it has no need does not entail dependence on it, how could it necessarily follow, when the Lord is above any of His creatures and that creature depends on Him, that Allah depends on it?”

The thirtieth argument: In his objection, he said: “His being situated in a particular spatial region and direction means nothing other than His being separate from the world, apart from it and distinct from it. His being so does not entail the existence of anything other than the essence of Allah Most High.”