Third: According to these thinkers, His being above the universe necessarily follows from His being outside it. Anything outside the universe is necessarily above it, since nothing can be outside the universe without being above it: what surrounds the universe is the highest thing within it, on every side. This being so, His being above the universe necessarily follows from His being outside it, while His being outside the universe necessarily follows from His essence and His being self-subsisting, as explained earlier. Thus, His being above the universe necessarily follows from His very existence.

Fourth: In response to his statement, “If all directions are above, why do you say that He must be in a particular one of them because it is nobler than the others?” we say: Their all being above describes them as they are in themselves. In this respect, they constitute one direction, not multiple directions. It is inconceivable that He should be in some of them and not others. Rather, He must be in that direction, which is intrinsically above the universe.

As for their constituting six directions, this is relative to a living creature. What lies in line with its head is called “above”; what lies in line with its feet, “below”; what lies to its right, “right”; what lies to its left, “left”; what lies before its face, “in front”; and what lies behind the back of its head, “behind”—because it heads towards and aims for the former and leaves the latter behind. These are relative matters: what is in front of one creature is behind another, and behind that same creature too if it turns around. Likewise, what is to its right is to another’s left, and to its own left as well if it turns. It is well known that whatever is higher is