The twenty-first point: it may be said that something entering Him and something leaving Him are precisely increase and decrease. For entry is not confined to a hollow interior; it can also occur at the sides. When something increases, something external enters it; when it decreases, part of it leaves it. If the two are identical, then it is an obvious contradiction to say that one is absent or impossible in His case, but not the other. If one is a literal meaning of al-Samad, then so is the other; if one is a figurative meaning, then so is the other.
People say, “Some of one group’s land has come within another’s territory,” “They have entered within their neighbors’ boundaries,” and “They have brought some of their neighbors’ land within the boundaries of their own land.” These and similar expressions describe an increase at the sides in terms of entry.
The twenty-second point: the statement of the early generations that al-Samad is the One who has no hollow interior is more specific than saying that nothing enters Him and nothing leaves Him. For something may be solid, yet something else may enter it and something may emerge from its sides