those who had begun to deny Allah’s rising over the Throne and would say (1), “If He rose over the Throne, temporal events would subsist in Him.” Abū Jafar (2) replied, in words to this effect: “Allah’s rising over the Throne is known through revelation; had revelation not spoken of it, we would not have known it. You may interpret it figuratively, but let us set that aside. Tell us instead about this compelling awareness we find in our hearts. No one who knows Allah has ever said, ‘O Allah!’ without—before his tongue even utters it (3)—finding in his heart an impulse that seeks what is above, turning neither right nor left. Can you devise any way to dispel this compelling awareness from our hearts?” The theologian slapped his own head (4) and said, “Al-Hamadhānī has bewildered me! [Al-Hamadhānī has bewildered me! Al-Hamadhānī has bewildered me!]” (5)

The substance of his statement (6) is that your argument for negation, even if sound, is (7) inferential, whereas within ourselves we find necessary knowledge of this (8). Thus, we are compelled to this knowledge (9) and to