his book—although he himself denied Allah’s being above creation—was that the sultan understood the arguments of both groups. He understood the point made by those who affirmed it: that the deniers’ statements amounted to negating Him. They said, “If we wished to describe something nonexistent, we could only describe it in these terms: it is neither within the world nor outside it,” or words to that effect. Ibn Fūrak was unable to answer this objection and eventually wrote to Abū Ishāq al-Isfarāyīnī about it. Al-Isfarāyīnī likewise gave no answer that would rebut it