know that He is not like creation but differs from it before knowing that He is separate from the world, distinct from it, and apart from it. For quality is one matter and quantity another; attributes are one matter and magnitude another. If separateness in magnitude and direction can be known independently of these qualitative distinctions, then it is known that this separateness is also established, even though those other distinctions are established as well, and that He is separate from creation in both respects. Indeed, separateness in direction and magnitude is more complete, for it applies to what subsists in itself, which also possesses separateness in attributes and manner of being. Separateness merely in attributes and manner of being, however, applies only to what subsists in something else, because its not subsisting in itself prevents it from having magnitude, spatial location, and direction in its own right.

From this, the thirty-fifth point becomes clear to us: it is known that Allah’s separateness from His creation is greater than the separateness of created things from one another. This applies equally to the separateness of bodies from one another, of accidents from one another, and of bodies from accidents. Now, bodies and accidents are separate even when alike, through their spatial locations and directions, which necessarily entail the separateness of their individual entities. When they differ, they are likewise separate through their distinct spatial locations and directions, together with their differences, as with two bodies