the existence of an existent not located in space, on this supposition and interpretation. Groups among the speculative theologians have explicitly stated this in their own terminology, maintaining that nothing exists except bodies, or bodies and what inheres in them. They have said that no existent is conceivable otherwise, and that whoever claims the existence of anything else contradicts clear reason.

All this applies when the disputant makes that claim without drawing an analogy between the eternal and the originated. As for arguing for it by analogy, the ninth response is as follows:

Place, in its familiar, commonly understood sense, consists of familiar concrete entities and what inheres in them—whether place is understood as the very bodies on or within which something exists, or as the inner surface of the containing body that touches the outer surface of the contained body. Likewise, time, as commonly understood, is dependent on bodies, whether it is understood as the measure of motion, the concurrence of one event with another, or the passage of night and day. Allah Most High says in His Book:

“All praise is due to Allah, who created the heavens and the earth and made darkness and light.” [al-An‘ām 1]

He also says:

“Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day” [al-Baqarah 164]

There is no disagreement among the followers of the various religions that Allah, glorified is He, existed before He created these places and times, and that His existence need not coincide with the existence of these places and times, as explained previously. Yet, in addition to these created places that actually exist, the mind conceives of spaces containing them, and conceives of such spaces even in the absence of these places.