ABSTRACT
Absolute alterity of God implies a metaphysical distance, or écart. One of the ways this écart is conveyed in the Qur'ān is that divine disclosure takes place only distantly, in remote horizons, or behind a veil of utter unknowability (ghayb). A sign of the inaccessibility of the Holy (al-Quddūs), the disclosure of the divine is realized only in withdrawal. This withdrawal and concealment of the Holy is what Muhammed apprehended and expressed in a pattern of negativity, which he inscribed into the fundamental beliefs and rituals of Islam, including the confession of faith and various boundaries of the sacred in Islam.
Absolute alterity of God implies a metaphysical distance, or écart. One of the ways this écart is conveyed in the Qur'ān is that divine disclosure takes place only distantly, in remote horizons, or behind a veil of utter unknowability (ghayb). As a sign of the inaccessibility of the Holy (al-Quddūs), the disclosure of the divine is realized only in withdrawal. This withdrawal and concealment of the Holy is what Muhammed apprehended and expressed in a pattern of negativity, which he inscribed into the fundamental beliefs and rituals of Islam, including the confession of faith and various boundaries of the sacred.
