to its relation to another: that is, He is not absent in Himself; rather, He is absent from another, or another is absent from Him. It may also be said that the terms “the witnessed” and “the unseen” encompass both relations: the witnessed is what witnesses us and what we witness, while the unseen is what is absent from us and from which we are absent, so that we do not witness it.

In any case, describing Him as unseen means that we do not witness Him. This is a sound Quranic designation. Had they said, “reasoning about the unseen (ghayb) by analogy with the witnessed (shahāda),” their wording would have been consistent with this. As for speaking of an analogy concerning “the absent (ghā’ib),” the wording differs on its face, although the meaning agrees. Hence the disagreement over using this expression.