in the case of anyone other than Him. Thus, Abū Sa‘īd al-Kharrāz was asked, “How did you come to know your Lord?” He replied, “Through the combination of two contradictories.” He then recited the words of the Most High:

“He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden, and He has knowledge of all things.” {3}

As for this a fortiori argument, and the obligation to declare the Lord free of every imperfection from which others are held to be free and for which anyone else is censured, this is innate, self-evident, and universally agreed upon.

Ahmad then presented another rational argument by analogy. He said: “We said to them, ‘Do you not know that Iblīs occupies a place and that the devils occupy a place? Allah would never be together with Iblīs in one and the same place.’”