is neither asserted by the opposing party nor something they need to assert. Rather, they hold that the Essence of the Lord of the worlds is above the world, and that He—glorified and exalted—is the Most High, the Highest, the Supremely Exalted in His very Essence. His elevation has absolutely no need of anything other than Him, nor does it depend on anything separate from Him. I know of none among them who says that His elevation requires anything separate from Him.

To say that He is above the world in terms of direction and spatial location does not entail the existence of anything other than Himself and the world. Direction is relational, as explained previously. Spatial location may mean something encompassed by what His name denotes, not something external to Him; alternatively, it may mean a hypothetically conceived place. The latter is not something existent: it has no reality whatsoever beyond being conceived and posited, just as time before the world is conceived. By this expression, they mean only that He is above the world in His very Essence, and that His being above it does not mean merely His power over it, as the Jahmiyyah maintain.

Accordingly, there is nothing higher than Allah Most High, nor anything that Allah needs for His elevation. Rather, their position accords with what the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said in the authentic hadith: “You are the Ascendant, and nothing is above You.” There has already been