and those who follow his path, like the student al-Saqqāf, you will see what increases your insight and conviction that what they learn from them is only "they learn what harms them and does not benefit them" (Sūrah al-Baqarah, 2:102), rather it is disbelief itself if they adhere to it. There is no clearer evidence of this than their agreement on denying the attribute of Allāh's exaltedness, which is firmly established and definitively indicated, due to its recurrent mention in the Qurʾān, sunnah, and the statements of the predecessors and imams, while they impose their corrupt reasoning upon it, and thus they differed: Among them—like the Ibāḍiyyah and the Muʿtazilah—are those who say: He is in every place! This implies the belief in indwelling or the unity of existence, as is the creed of the extreme Sufis! And among them are those who say: He is neither above nor below, neither right nor left, neither in front nor behind, neither inside the world nor outside it! I indeed heard this from some of the shaykhs in Damascus during the Friday khuṭbah!! Some of them went to extremes in negation, saying: He is neither connected to it nor separate from it!! By Allāh, this is disbelief and denial of the divine existence; for if the most eloquent of the Arabs were asked: Describe for us the nonexistent that has no existence; they would not be able to describe it with more than what these have described their Lord!!