just as the same is known concerning the statements of the other Jahmīs—the heretics, esotericists and their like—who say that He is neither living nor dead, neither powerless nor powerful, neither knowing nor ignorant. All these statements are of the same kind: they exclude both contradictory alternatives, deny the Creator what rightfully belongs to Him and deny His reality, negate His very essence altogether, and nullify knowledge of Him, remembrance of Him and worship of Him, in keeping with their claims in this regard.

If it is said: “What Imam Ahmad mentioned and you have set forth—that it is impossible for Him to be within the world while being neither separate from it nor in contact with it—is contradicted by what certain groups who affirm the divine attributes say. These include followers of Imam Ahmad and others who maintain that He is above the Throne, for they say that He is above the Throne, neither separate from it nor in contact with it. What, then, is the difference between the two cases?”

The reply is: Those who say this do so only because they maintain that He is above the Throne and is not a body. This is the position of the Kullābīs, the leading Ashʿarīs, and groups of jurists and others who have followed them. Many groups among the theologians and jurists, however, say instead that