in matters concerning the divine attributes, when affirming knowledge, awareness, will, and so forth.

Others objected to their position, including Shaykh Abū Muhammad in his epistle to the people of Ra’s al-‘Ayn. He said, “Allah is not to be called absent,” citing what has already been mentioned.

The decisive distinction between the two groups is that the terms ghayb (“the unseen”) and ghā’ib (“absent”) express relative meanings. They may refer to what is absent from us and therefore not perceived by us, or to what is absent from us and therefore does not perceive us. For when one of us is entirely absent from another, neither perceives the other. Allah, glorified be He, however, witnesses His servants, watches over them, and keeps them under His oversight. Not an atom’s weight in the earth or heaven escapes Him. He is therefore not absent. Rather, He is unseen because His servants have not seen Him. This is why He is included in the unseen in which one believes, although He is not absent.

For ghā’ib is an active participle: one says ghāba, yaghību (“he was absent, he is absent”), hence ghā’ib (“one who is absent”). Allah witnesses and is not absent. As for ghayb, it is the verbal noun in the sequence ghāba, yaghību, ghayban. A verbal noun is often used in place of an active participle, as with ‘adl (“justice,” used for a just person), sawm (“fasting,” used for one who fasts), and zawr (“visiting,” used for visitors). It is also used in place of a passive participle, as with khalq (“creation,” meaning what is created), rizq (“provision,” meaning what is provided), and dirham darb al-amīr (“a dirham of the ruler’s minting”).

He therefore pairs ghayb with shahāda (“witnessing”), which is also a verbal noun. Shahāda denotes either what is witnessed or the one who witnesses. Ghayb denotes either the one from whom something is absent—who therefore does not witness, the opposite of shahāda—or the absent one who is beyond our perception and whom we have not witnessed. Thus, referring to Him by the verbal noun draws attention