say that He neither dwells within creation nor serves as a locus for it. This division is exhaustive, as Ahmad explained: one of these three positions must be adopted. If they make Him a locus for created things, they have placed Iblīs, Satan, and impurities—things kept far from Allah, accursed and cast out—inside Allah. That is disbelief. If they make Him dwell within creation, they have made Him dwell in every place that He is far too exalted to approach, touch, or be near. That too is disbelief, as explained above.

In discussing His being a locus and His dwelling within something, Imam Ahmad distinguished between living, impure beings and lifeless, inanimate impurities. In the first case, he mentioned living, impure beings, namely the devils; in the second, he mentioned inanimate impurities—filthy, foul matter. For in this second case, the supposition is that created things are places and a locus for Him, and a place serving as a locus is ordinarily not a living creature. He therefore confronted them with the consequence that impure, vile, filthy bodies would be places for Him.

In the first case, he described Him as the locus and place, and therefore mentioned the occupant that dwells within that place. Ordinarily, living creatures occupy places: a creature moves within a place and toward it; it is not the place that moves toward the creature and comes to it. And if these two possibilities are ruled out,