as shown by the fact that the early generations of the Muslim community and its imams acknowledge consensus as authoritative without basing this on a method of proof incorporating this premise, which may never even occur to most of them.”

They may also say: “Suppose proof were established that the universe, created beings, and the dimensions containing originated things are finite. Why, then, do you say that infinitude is impossible for the Creator?” This objection is made both by those who affirm that He is a body and by those who deny it, as their two views have already been mentioned.

As for the third argument, namely your statement: “If He were infinite in every direction, no direction or spatial region could be devoid of His essence. It would then follow that the universe intermingles with His parts, and that filth and impurities do so as well. No rational person says this.” If you mean that no rational person subject to religious obligations says this, various groups among them have indeed said it, as we have mentioned concerning al-Ashʿarī, who reported this from