We previously explained that the term “direction” may refer either to something existent or to something nonexistent. Thus, whoever says that He is above the entire world does not say that He is in an existent direction—unless what is meant (1) by “direction” is (*the Throne, and what is meant by His being in it is that He is above it, just as has (2) been said concerning the statement that He is in heaven—that is, above heaven.

On this understanding, if He is above all existing things and is independent of them, there would be no existent direction there in which He could be, much less one that He would need.

If what is meant by “direction”*) (3) is whatever lies beyond the world, that is not a thing at all, nor is it something existent (4) such that it could be said that He either needs it or does not need it. These people treated the term “direction” equivocally, imagining—and leading others to imagine—that (5), if He were in a direction, He would be within [every] (6) thing other than Himself, just as a person is inside his house [and as the sun, moon, and stars are in the sky] (7). They then concluded from this that He would be dependent on something other than Himself. Yet Allah Most High is independent of everything besides Him. All these premises are false.

Likewise, he provided no proof for his statement:

“Everything that is in a direction is originated.”

The furthest his argument goes (8) is the foregoing claim that, if [Allah] (9) were in a direction, He would be a body, and every body