Having considered these texts, we may address what he mentioned from several angles.

First, his statement: “Know that, concerning this verse, our companions have said that it is permissible to say that He veils Himself from creation, but not that He is veiled from them.”

The first point: We reply that the verse you cited does not mention Allah either veiling Himself or being veiled. It states only that the disbelievers are veiled from Allah. If you mean the verse in Sūrat al-Shūrā, “behind a veil,” you did not cite it. Nor did you state that their being veiled entails that He, exalted is He, veils Himself, so as to complete the argument—despite its other difficulties.

The second point: This is the position of only some of his companions. Others among them, such as Abū Bakr ibn Fūrak and others, say that Allah can neither veil Himself nor be veiled by a veil. They said that the veil