the Lord of the worlds, such as Pharaoh and his ilk and the extremists among the esoteric Qarmatians. In short, “Lord of the worlds” conveys more than “the Necessary Existent,” for being Lord of the worlds entails His lordship over the worlds and necessarily implies His self-existence.

If he says, “Rather, al-Samad means the One who is not susceptible to increase or decrease”—which is what his words indicate and what he intended, and Allah knows best—he may be told: Increase and decrease are properties of quantity. Thus, your statement that He is not susceptible to increase or decrease admits of two meanings: first, that His essence is such that neither increase nor decrease in it can be conceived; second, that increase and decrease are impossible for it. Whichever of these two meanings is intended, the same can be said of His having no cavity or His not being susceptible to division and separation, for this, too, admits of two meanings: