—glory be to Him—described the angels in these terms as a rebuttal to the disbelievers who are too proud to worship Him. Examples of this in the Quran cannot be counted without considerable effort. As for the hadiths and reports from the “Companions and Successors,” none but Allah Most High can count them.

There are only two possibilities: either what these texts jointly affirm—that Allah Himself is above His creation—is the truth, or its opposite is the truth, for the truth cannot lie outside two contradictory alternatives. Either He Himself is above creation, or He is not above creation—as the Jahmiyyah say.

Sometimes they say, “He is neither above them nor within them, neither inside the world nor outside it, neither separate from it nor co-located with it.” At other times they say, “He is in every place in His very essence.” Both positions reject the affirmation that He Himself is above His creation.

Thus, the truth must lie either in affirming this or in denying it. If denying it is the truth, then it is well known that the Quran has never conveyed this denial—neither explicitly nor through its apparent meaning. Nor has the Messenger, nor any of the Companions, the Successors, or the leading scholars of the Muslims, whether the imams of the four schools or anyone else. No one can transmit from any one of them a denial of this or a statement to that effect.

As for the affirmations transmitted from them, they are too numerous to count or enumerate.