All of this, then, is from al-Ash‘arī’s own words. One example is his argument that Allah is above the Throne, based on his report that all Muslims say that Allah has veiled Himself with seven heavens. He has veiled Himself only from being seen by His creation, not from seeing them Himself. Thus, these veils prevent His servants from seeing Him. This entails that they would see Him if these veils were removed, which in turn entails that they would see Him in a direction relative to themselves. For anyone who affirms that Allah can be seen without being in any direction relative to the beholder also denies the possibility of separate intervening veils, as explained earlier.

Likewise, he appeals to Allah’s words:

“It is not for any human being that Allah should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a veil.”
[al-Shūrā 51]

The verse indicates that Allah veils Himself from some created beings but not others. It is therefore clear that He does not veil Himself from some of them. His use of this as evidence that Allah is above the Throne entails that Allah veils Himself from the beholder by means of some of His created beings. This necessarily entails that He can be seen only in a direction relative to the beholder.

Likewise, in arguing that Allah is on high, he maintains that Allah is Light, that this entails that He can be seen, and that seeing Him necessarily entails His being on high. Al-Ash‘arī’s discussion of seeing Allah and His being on high entails that the two are inseparable. This is precisely the position that this author attributed to the Karrāmiyyah.

The sixth point: In his Nihāyah, in the discussion of seeing Allah, this author presents the rational and scriptural arguments advanced by those who deny that He can be seen. He states that their strongest rational arguments are two: