inverted and upside down. Two things follow from this: first, his movement runs contrary to the movement Allah has established in His creation; second, the change in direction is relative, not actual, just as right and left, or front and back, may exchange places. It is well known that east and west never change merely because one faces them at one time and turns one’s back to them at another. How, then, could above and below change merely because a person is inverted and turned on his head, with his feet pointing towards the sky and his head towards the earth? Indeed, even this inverted person knows that the sky is above him and the earth beneath him.

We do not deny that the terms “above” and “below” may be used from this hypothetical, relative perspective. But this does not change the actual, fixed direction. It is in this sense that the wording is used in the hadith narrated by Abū Hurayrah and Abū Dharr from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), in which he said: “If one of you were to lower a rope, it would descend upon Allah.” He thus supposed the lowering of the rope, although it is impossible, and called it