[The Term “Spatial Location”]

[Likewise, the term “spatial location” may be intended to mean either a positive reality or a privative one. Thus, when they say, “Every body is in a spatial location,” what is meant by “spatial location” may be something privative, or it may be something positive.

In linguistic usage, a spatial location is an existing entity to which something withdraws, as Allah Most High says:

{And whoever turns his back to them that day—unless maneuvering for battle or joining another company}

[Sūrat al-Anfāl: 16].

According to the former meaning, “spatially located” refers to something that can be pointed to. The theologians would therefore say:

“We know of necessity that every created thing is either spatially located or subsists in something spatially located.”

Indeed, many of them say:

“Rather, we know that every existent is either spatially located or subsists in something spatially located.”

They establish that the separate immaterial entities whose existence some philosophers affirm—entities that cannot be pointed to but are pure intelligibles—exist only in minds, not in external reality.

What al-Shahrastānī, al-Rāzī, and others like them assert—that the Muslim theologians produced no proof negating these immaterial entities—is not as they claim. Rather, their books are replete with arguments demonstrating their nonexistence (1), as has been explained elsewhere.

In his al-Muhassal (“The Compendium”), al-Rāzī raised an objection concerning spatial location. He said (2): “As for spatial states,