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Abū ‘Abd Allāh al-Rāzī said:

“Ninth: Those who liken Allah to creation said: ‘The world and the Creator both exist. Whenever two things exist, one must either inhere in the other or be separate from it.’

“They said: ‘That these are the only two possibilities is self-evident.’

“They said: ‘Inherence is impossible; therefore, He must be separate from the world in a spatial direction.’ Through this reasoning, they argued that He, exalted is He, has a particular spatial location and direction.”

The eternalists said:

“The world and the Creator” both exist. Whenever two things exist, either their existence is simultaneous or one precedes the other. It is impossible for the world and the Creator to exist simultaneously, for that would entail either that the world is eternal or that the Creator came into existence, both of which are impossible. It is therefore established that the Creator precedes the world. They then said that it is self-evident that this precedence can only be in time and duration. Once this is established, the Creator’s precedence