and were employed by the early generations and the imams. Thus, it is said: if a servant regards a partner or a female as beneath his dignity, his Lord is all the more deserving of being declared free of such things. And if a servant possesses knowledge and power, Allah is all the more deserving of them.

The same applies to this argument. Its substance is that if an originated, contingent being can be seen, then the Necessary, Eternal Being is all the more deserving of being seen. If a created being, whose existence is imperfect, can be seen and perceived by the senses, then the Lord, whose existence is perfect, has an even greater right to be seen. For being such that one can be seen is a perfection, not a deficiency. In the observable realm, being neither seen nor perceived by the senses is established only for what is nonexistent. Any attribute that, to our knowledge, applies only to what is nonexistent cannot be an attribute of perfection. By contrast, attributes that apply to what exists, but not to what is nonexistent, constitute deficiencies only in comparison with something whose existence is more perfect. Every attribute that neither applies to the nonexistent nor is exclusive to deficient beings can only be an attribute of perfection.

This approach to the question shows that the possibility of being seen is among the attributes of perfection to which the Creator has greater right than created beings. Its counterpart in the question of being above is that a thing’s being above another in its very self is an attribute of perfection, just as its power over that other is an attribute of perfection. If that is so, Allah has greater right to this attribute than anything else described by it; He must therefore be above in His very self. Likewise, His being distinct in His essence from everything else is an attribute