the seventy-three sects. This is the more balanced of the two positions held by the scholars following Ahmad, both of which were mentioned by Abū Abd Allāh ibn Hāmid and others.

(And a second group say that He is, in His essence, everywhere. This is the position of the Najjāriyyah and many among the Jahmiyyah—their devotees, Sufis, and ordinary adherents. They also say that He is the very existence of created things, as asserted by the “advocates of oneness,” who maintain that existence is one, and by those whose position combines indwelling and union.

They appeal to the scriptural texts concerning His “being with” and His “nearness,” while reinterpreting the texts concerning His highness and His being established over the Throne. Yet every text they invoke is evidence against them. Most instances of His “being with” are specifically concerned with His prophets and His allies, whereas they maintain that He is everywhere. The very texts they cite demonstrate the opposite of their position, for He says:

“Whatever is in the heavens and the earth glorifies Allah, and He is the Almighty, the All-Wise.”

Thus, everyone in the heavens and the earth glorifies Him, and the one who glorifies is other than the One glorified. He also says:

“To Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth.”

He thereby makes clear that dominion belongs to Him. Then He says:

“He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden, and He has knowledge of all things.”

And in the Sahīh:

“You are the First, and nothing is before You…” and so forth.

If He is the First, then there is something that comes after Him. If He is the Last, then there is something after which the Lord remains. If He is the Manifest, with nothing above Him, then there is something above which the Lord is manifest. And if He is the Hidden, with nothing nearer than Him, then there are things of which He has denied that they are nearer than Him.