in his statement. What lies latent in something need not be manifest in it. Were disbelief manifest in his statement, its speaker would necessarily have to be declared a disbeliever. But when it is latent and hidden, someone who does not understand the true nature of the disbelief it contains does not thereby become a disbeliever, even though the statement contains and entails disbelief.

As for the term “corporealism,” it is an ambiguous expression with no basis in revelation. Affirming or denying it therefore requires clarification and evidence, as explained previously.

If someone who affirms it says, “What is meant is that He is above the world and separate from it,” he is told, “This meaning is correct.” If someone who denies it says, “What is meant is that created things neither encompass Him nor resemble Him,” he is told, “This meaning is correct.” There is no contradiction between your two statements: He is above the world and separate from it, while created things neither confine nor encompass Him. He has no need of the Throne or anything else, although He is above created things and separate from them. He does not resemble them, nor can what is possible for them be possible for Him. These meanings expressed by those who deny and those who affirm are correct and acceptable; those other meanings expressed by them are rejected. Praise be to Allah, Lord of all worlds.

Furthermore, the answer given by those who affirm to the eternalists—namely, that acts which He wills and has the power to perform subsist in Him, glorified be He, and that through these He creates things separate from Himself—accords with the accounts transmitted from the Messengers, may Allah’s blessings be upon them. Allah has stated that He created the heavens and the earth in six days, then rose over the Throne. And before His rising