in a thing, nor as a thing upon a thing, nor as a thing outside a thing, nor separate from a thing.”

He said:

He should be told: “Your position rests on inference and rational understanding, yet by inference and rational understanding you have demonstrated that you worship nothing. For if He were something to which inference and rational understanding applied, He would have to be either within a thing or outside it. Since, according to you, He is not a thing, it is impossible for that thing to be within another thing or outside it. By my life, you have described something obscure that has no existence. This is your religion, and negation is the foundation of your doctrine.”

Thus, ‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Makkī has explained that inference and rational understanding necessarily establish that whatever is neither within a thing nor outside it is nothing, and that this is the description of something nonexistent, having no existence. Here, inference means rational proofs, while rational understanding means self-evident knowledge.

Likewise, Abū Muhammad ‘Abd Allāh ibn Sa‘īd ibn Kullāb—the leading authority of the theologians who affirm the divine attributes, such as al-Qalānisī, al-Ash‘arī, and his followers—made a similar statement, recorded by Abū Bakr ibn Fūrak in his compilation of al-Ash‘arī’s statements. Ibn Fūrak cited Ibn Kullāb as saying:

“The assertion of someone who says, ‘He is neither within the world nor outside it,’ falls outside the bounds of rational inquiry and revelation. He has thereby negated Him completely. For if he were told, ‘Describe Him as nonexistent,’ he could say no more than this. He has rejected what Allah has explicitly stated and made a claim in this matter that neither revealed texts nor reason allow. He claims that this is pure monotheism. In their view, pure negation is pure affirmation, and they consider themselves exponents of rational inference.”