or negatively, applies only to what is nonexistent.

The twenty-sixth point: What he has said amounts to defining al-Samad as that which admits of neither increase nor decrease. We know of no one who has interpreted al-Samad in this way.

The twenty-seventh point: Concerning his statement, “This is because a body of this nature is free from separation and distinction from anything else. He, glorified is He, is necessarily existent in Himself, and this entails that He admits of neither increase nor decrease,” we reply: It is no greater a claim to deny that He increases or decreases than to deny that He is separate and distinct from anything else, since whatever is said of the one can be said of the other.

The twenty-eighth point: Concerning his statement, “He, glorified is He, is necessarily existent in Himself, and this entails that He admits of neither increase nor decrease,” we reply: His necessary existence entails this just as it entails His not being separate and His being neither within nor outside; there is no difference.