is equal to the Throne, greater than it, or smaller than it. If they accept this, it follows that His essence is divisible.”

I say: This may be addressed in several ways. First, an existent being must be either within the world or outside it, just as it must be either eternal or brought into existence, either the Creator or a created being, either self-subsisting or subsisting in another, and either necessarily existent or contingent. This is known necessarily through the innate disposition. Thus, even the Jahmiyyah whom the imams addressed did not dispute it. As Imam Ahmad explained in his argument against them: if He was alone and then created the world, He must have created it either within Himself or outside Himself. There was no third possibility—namely, that He created it neither within Himself nor outside Himself—for this is known to be impossible by the necessity of