in that perfection. Thus, if neither the elevation of His essence above the world nor the elevation of the direction above the world is an attribute of perfection, neither can be more perfect than the other. This argument therefore fails, and its invalidity under either supposition is clear. All praise is due to Allah.

The fifteenth point: It may be said: You maintain that His elevation consists only in power. Suppose, then, that He placed Himself to the right of the world or to its left, or even within a cloud, or beneath the Throne, or in some similar situation in which something would be elevated above Him, while retaining power over that and over all things, and the power to change and transform everything, making what is high low and what is low high. He would not thereby cease to possess the attribute of elevation that, according to you, is His due. Nor, according to you, would His ceasing to be elevated with respect to direction be incompatible with perfection. Thus, this would entail no deficiency whatsoever, such that He would be perfected in one case but not in the other.

Even if it were said that He is in a direction, or that He must necessarily be in a direction or occupy space, someone who says this might not regard it as an attribute of perfection. Rather, he may regard it as something possible for Him, just as certain acts of His are possible and seeing Him is possible; that entails no deficiency. You therefore agree that His not being elevated with respect to direction is not an attribute of deficiency. Thus, if someone who affirms that He is elevated says to you, “It is all the same for Him whether He is elevated above the world or not, and whether He is in a direction or not; He is, in