collects no dust and allows nothing to enter it or emerge from it.

He said: Some ignorant anthropomorphists have cited this verse as proof that He, Most High, is a body. This is false, for we have shown that His being One is incompatible with His being a body. Thus, what precedes this verse shows that this cannot be the intended meaning of al-Samad. Moreover, al-Samad, understood in this way, is an attribute of dense bodies. Exalted is Allah above that.

He said: There are two ways of answering this. First, al-Samad follows the pattern faʿal but has the meaning of a passive participle. It derives from samada ilayhi, meaning “to turn to someone”; its meaning is therefore “the One to whom people turn in their needs.” As the poet said:

‘Ah, the herald came early, announcing the deaths
Of the two noble men of Banū Asad:
ʿAmr ibn Masʿūd, and the chief to whom all turned.’