and for this reason its existence may have no end, as with time. The inhabitants of Paradise and others like them have no end to their existence. By contrast, a mentally posited spatial interval and an actually existing place exist at a single time, rather than successively. They must therefore have a boundary and a definite reality. Neither a place nor a body can be infinite.

Thus, the difference between His preceding the world and His being separate from it is that, in His preceding those of His creatures whom He precedes, one can posit an endless succession of times. But in His being separate from those of His creatures from whom He is separate, one cannot posit an endless succession of places between Him and them. Hence neither the beginning of His existence nor His continued subsistence has any limit, end, or terminus. The same is not said, however, of the greatness and magnitude of His essence. Rather, it is said:

“No vision can encompass Him.” [al-An‘ām 103]

“They cannot encompass Him in knowledge.” {110} [Tā Hā 110]

“They have not esteemed Allah as He deserves.” [al-Zumar 67]

And other statements of this kind.

Thus, when Jahm and Abū al-Hudhayl—the two leading authorities of the Jahmiyyah—and others drew an analogy between limits in essence and place and limits in existence and time, they extended the judgment concerning one to the other, and the judgment concerning the other to