sayings transmitted from him is astray—indeed, an unbeliever—by the consensus of the Muslims. If that is so, how can words transmitted only from him be made a mainstay for those who follow the path to Allah, with no other discourse quoted more extensively when presenting the beliefs of the masters of that path?

This is the passage in which he said: “Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān al-Sulamī informed us, saying: I heard Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ghālib say: I heard Abū Nasr Ahmad ibn Saʿīd al-Asfanjānī say: Al-Husayn ibn Mansūr said:

‘Origination is inseparable from all things, for pre-eternity belongs to Him. Whatever manifests through a body is necessarily subject to accidents. Whatever is assembled by an instrument is held together by its powers. Whatever time brings together, time disperses. Whatever is sustained by another is subject to necessity. Whatever the imagination grasps can be represented in an image. Whatever a place contains is encompassed by “where,” and whatever belongs to a genus is subject to the question “how.”

He—glory be to Him—is overshadowed by no “above” and supported by no “below.” No boundary confronts Him, no “beside” crowds Him, no “behind” overtakes Him, and no “in front” limits Him. No “before” brought Him forth, and no “after” caused Him to cease to be. No “whole” encompassed Him; no “was” brought Him into existence, and no “is not” deprived Him of existence.