Abū ʿAbd Allāh said:

As for the verses which they claim He joined together—without separating them as He separated the statement in which He meant that He is upon His Throne—He said:

“Do you not see that Allah knows whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on earth?”

He spoke of His knowledge, then stated that He is with everyone engaged in a private conversation, and then concluded the verse by speaking of His knowledge:

“Indeed, Allah knows all things.”

Thus He began with knowledge and ended with knowledge, making clear that He meant that He knows them wherever they are. They are not hidden from Him, nor are their private conversations hidden from Him. If a group gathered below, and someone looking down at them from above said, “I have been watching you all along and know your private conversations,” he would be speaking truthfully—yet to Allah belongs the highest description; He is far above resembling His creation.

If they insist on nothing but the apparent meaning of the wording and say, “This is merely an assertion on your part,” they depart from their own position concerning that apparent meaning. For whoever is with two or more people is with them, not within them; and whoever is with something is bodily separate from it. This contradicts their position.

The same applies to His words, Most High:

“And We are closer to him than his jugular vein.”

For whatever is close to something is not within it. Thus, on their own claim to follow the apparent meaning of the wording, He is not within the jugular vein.

The same applies to His words:

“And it is He who is God in heaven and God on earth.”

He did not say “in heaven” and then separate what follows—as He said:

“Do you feel secure from Him who is in heaven?”

Then He separated what follows, saying:

“That He will not cause the earth to swallow you.”

Rather, He said:

“And it is He who is God in heaven,”

meaning the God of the inhabitants of heaven and the God of the inhabitants of earth. This usage is found in “the language.” You say, “So-and-so is a ruler in Khurāsān, a ruler in Balkh, and a ruler in Samarkand,” although he is in only one place, and what lies beyond him is hidden from him. What, then, of the One who is above all things, from whom nothing that He governs is hidden? He is therefore God in both