He then said: “Is not He who created the heavens and the earth able to create the like of them?” (Yā-Sīn 36:81). This is a premise that is self-evident, and therefore it is couched as a rhetorical question whose very form signals that the audience already acknowledges it. The Almighty likewise says: “They never bring you any argument but that We bring you the truth and the finest explanation of it” (al-Furqān 25:33). He next sets forth His universal omnipotence in His words: “His command, when He wills a thing, is only to say to it, ‘Be!’—and it is” (Yā-Sīn 36:82).

In this passage, and in many others throughout the Qur’an, lie profound mysteries and conclusive proofs for the principles of faith, but this is not the place to discuss them in detail; the point here is simply to draw attention to them.

The same method is employed when He proclaims His transcendence and holiness above the notion that He has begotten anyone, whether the alleged begetting is physical or intellectual: as when the Christians claim that the “Word”—which they regard as the very substance of the Son—proceeded from Him; or as when the Ṣābian philosophers assert the generation of the ten intellects and the nine planetary souls. Even they dispute whether these are independent substances or mere accidents. They liken the intellects to males and the souls to females, then adopt them as their fathers, mothers, deities, and near lords. Their acquaintance with souls is clearer, for the circular motion they observe points to volitional motion, which in turn points to a moving soul; yet most of them still maintain that the planetary soul is an accident rather than a substance subsisting on its own. This mirrors the stance of the Arab polytheists and others who assigned to Him sons and daughters. The Exalted says: “They have set up the jinn as partners with Allah, though He created them, and they falsely attribute to Him sons and daughters without any knowledge. Glory be to Him, and far exalted is He above what they ascribe” (al-Anʿām 6:100). And He says: “Most certainly, out of their fabrications they say…”