[how He is above].”

Their rejection of the claim that the Creator is neither inside the world nor outside it accords with what is affirmed [in] the Quran and Sunnah and agreed upon by the early generations of the Muslim community and its leading scholars, as well as with the judgment of sound reason. In both matters, they believed in Allah, His Books, and His Messengers; acknowledged what the innate disposition attests and what sound reason knows; and accepted what revelation and reason entail. They were not among the inhabitants of the Fire who say:

“If only we had listened or used our reason, we would not be among the inhabitants of the Blaze (10).” [al-Mulk: 10]

How can this compare with the position of someone who contradicts sound reason by affirming a being neither inside the world nor outside it, thereby also contradicting the Quran, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the early generations of the Muslim community and its leading scholars, while also denying the attributes established by texts transmitted through numerous independent channels and by the consensus of the early generations—attributes whose denial sound reason likewise recognizes as false, given that Allah has no likeness and His reality differs from that of the world?!

Likewise, one may know that He is not like created beings, but differs from them, before knowing that He is separate from the world, distinct from it and apart. For “the question of quality” differs from “the question of quantity,” and “the question of attribute” differs from “the question of magnitude.” And if