deny that Allah’s actions have any underlying purpose and who regard every conceivable act as allowable for Him.

They are told: “According to your own principle, Allah never does anything for the sake of something else. Consequently, He did not bring the extraordinary, habit-breaking signs to confirm the Messenger; He did not punish those people for rejecting him; and He did not save and support these believers because of their faith in him—since, on your view, He never acts for a purpose at all.

They are also told: “If you deem every act possible for the Lord, then you must allow that He could display miracles at the hands of a liar.”

And they are further addressed: “You have no way of knowing what the Lord will do except through what custom has established or through prophetic report. Before the truthfulness of a prophet is verified, nothing can be known on the basis of his report; and custom applies only to things that recur—such as the rising of the sun, the descent of rain, and the like—whereas producing a miracle to confirm a claim is not a customary occurrence.”

Thus it is said: “If this objection has any force at all, it only undermines the position of those who maintain that Allah does act for purposes yet still allow that He may perform every possible deed, refusing to declare Him transcendent above vile actions, and holding that nothing is ugly or unjust except what is intrinsically impossible—such as causing a thing to exist and not exist simultaneously, or making…"