who contradict themselves(1), treating the spatial domain as existent at one time and nonexistent at another, as do al-Rāzī(2) and others. This has (indeed)(3) been discussed at length elsewhere.

Whoever employs their terminology and says, “Allah is spatially located,” meaning (that He)(4) is encompassed by some existent thing, is mistaken. Glorified is He, He is distinct from His creation, and nothing exists except the Creator and the created. Since the Creator is distinct from the created, it is impossible for the Creator to be within the created, and it is impossible for Him to be spatially located in this sense.

If by “spatial domain” he means something nonexistent, then a nonexistent thing is nothing at all. Glorified is He, He is distinct from(5) His creation. Thus, if he calls the nonexistence above the world a “spatial domain” and says, “It is impossible for Him to be above the world, lest He be spatially located,” this is a false notion, for there is no existent thing there other than Him in which He could be. It is established by reason and revelation that He is distinct from(6) His creation, as has been explained at length elsewhere.

Both of these were among the proofs invoked by the early generations and leading scholars of the Ummah against the Jahmiyya—as Imam Ahmad did in his refutation of the Jahmiyya, as did Abd al-Azīz al-Kinānī(7) and Abd Allah ibn