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

And He says:

“No! Indeed, they will be veiled from their Lord that Day.” {15}
[al-Mutaffifīn 15]

The singling out of some of His creation as veiled precludes all of them being veiled. If some are veiled and others are not, He cannot be within them all, for their relation to Him would then be the same. There must therefore be a veil between Him and some of them, which entails His being distinct from them, as explained above. Similar to this are His words:

“Then they are returned to Allah, their true Master.”
[al-Anʿām 62]

And His words:

“If only you could see when they are made to stand before their Lord.”
[al-Anʿām 30]

And His words:

“And they will be presented before your Lord in rows: ‘You have certainly come to Us just as We created you the first time.’”
[al-Kahf 48]

“If only you could see when the criminals hang their heads before their Lord.”
[al-Sajdah 12]

Thus, the expressions “to Him,” “in His presence,” and “before Him”—whereby some creatures are returned to Him, some are made to stand before Him and are presented before Him, and some hang their heads in His presence—entail that not all creatures are in that state, that they were not in that state beforehand, and that they are distinct and separate from Him. They also entail that He is such that something can be in His presence, something can be returned to Him, and something can be presented before Him. If His essence were intermingled with their essences, that would be impossible. This entails His distinctness and separateness, His having a particular direction and a limit, and the falsity of the view of anyone who says that His essence is intermingled with their essences, or regards existing things as