The tenth point: Regarding his question, “Why do you say that whatever is so in the observable realm must also be so in the unseen realm?”, and his elaboration that this premise must be either self-evident or established by inference, the answer is: His opponent maintains that it is self-evident.

As for his assertion that, if it were self-evident, there would be no need for this proof to establish that Allah, exalted is He, is situated in a direction: it has been established in the observable realm that everything that subsists in itself is situated in a direction, and it has been established that the Creator subsists in Himself. It would therefore be necessary to conclude decisively that He is situated in a direction, on the basis of necessary knowledge that whatever holds in the observable realm must likewise hold in the unseen realm.

No rational person says this. There is an obvious difference between claiming necessary, self-evident knowledge concerning a particular, specific matter and claiming it concerning a general, universal matter. If someone says, “It is known necessarily that everything visible, whether in the observable or the unseen realm, must lie in a direction relative to the observer,” or, “It is known necessarily that the unseen realm resembles the observable realm in this particular respect,” this does not entail saying that it is known necessarily that whatever holds in the observable realm must likewise hold in the unseen realm. The premise in question is his statement: “Every