or inhere in anything that occupies space. Thus, they cannot truthfully be described as either spatially coincident with this world or separate from it in any direction. Unless they refute this position with proof, they cannot validly maintain that, of any two entities in the observable world, one must either be spatially coincident with the other or separate from it.

Second, the majority of the Muʿtazilah affirm volitions and aversions that exist without inhering in any substrate. They also affirm annihilation without a substrate. These things cannot truthfully be described as either spatially coincident with the world or separate from it in any direction. Unless they refute this, their claim remains unproven.

Third, we shall establish by proof that relations are accidents existing in external reality, then demonstrate that they cannot be spatially coincident with the world or separate from it in any direction. This invalidates their argument. Our reason for stating that