Allah. He interpreted the Exalted’s words, “Vision does not apprehend Him,” as meaning that vision does not encompass Him. He gave the sky as an example, asking, “Do you not see the sky?” “Yes,” came the reply. He asked, “Do you see all of it?” “No,” came the reply. He said, “Allah is greater.”

Since this is so, it is clear that Allah denied that vision apprehends Him, but did not deny that He apprehends Himself, nor did He deny seeing Him altogether. If His very being were such that seeing Him was absolutely impossible—rather than only encompassing Him being impossible, while seeing Him without encompassing Him remained possible—He would not have denied this particular thing, namely apprehension by sight, without also denying His apprehending Himself and sight seeing Him. For negating the general entails negating the particular, whereas negating the particular does not entail negating the general. Rather, it implies that the particular is possible, or leaves its status undetermined. For it is not fitting to praise Him by denying something particular when it is already excluded, just as it is not fitting to say, “Human beings cannot annihilate Him entirely,” or, “They cannot annihilate His essence and attributes.” This is beyond the power of human beings and anyone else; indeed, it is intrinsically impossible.

Likewise, one does not say, “Human beings cannot cause Him to cease to exist, cause Him to die, or deprive Him of His power and knowledge,” and the like, because these things are impossible in