legs. Whatever the case, it is above them, whether it encompasses the celestial spheres or otherwise. One must therefore understand that the upper and lower worlds are exceedingly small in relation to the Creator—glorified and exalted is He—as He, Most High, says:

“They have not given Allah His due,”

and the rest of the verse.

A Great Principle Affirming His Being Above Creation

This is necessarily affirmed by clear reason and sound human nature. The argument is as follows:

Allah existed, and nothing existed with Him. Then He created the world. There are only three possibilities: either He created it within Himself and it then became separate from Him—which is impossible, for Allah is exalted above contact with impurities or anything else—or He created it outside Himself and then entered it—which is also impossible, for He is exalted above indwelling His creation. No Muslim disputes the impossibility of these two alternatives. Or He created it outside His noble Self and did not indwell it. This is the truth: no other possibility is admissible, and nothing else befits Allah.

This principle was among the arguments Imam Ahmad used against the Jahmiyyah during the ordeal. In al-Maqālāt (The Doctrines), al-Ashʿarī recorded the position of Muhammad ibn Kullāb, whom he followed: reason establishes that Allah is above the world, while His rising over the Throne is known through revelation and the reports of the messengers. They were sent to perfect people’s innate nature, and there is no altering the innate nature bestowed by Allah. The revealed law affirms this, contrary to the misguided philosophers and others, who have inverted the realities. End of quotation.