or an end? And can the Lord have always spoken whenever He wills? Can His words be without limit, having neither beginning nor end, just as He Himself has always existed and will always exist, with neither beginning nor end to His existence? Indeed, He is the First, before whom there is nothing, and the Last, after whom there is nothing. He is eternal and beginningless, everlasting and enduring, never ceasing to exist. Can He have always spoken by His will, without having begun to speak after previously not speaking ن, without His speech being something created and separate from Him, and without speaking apart from His power and will? Rather, He speaks by His will and power, and has always done so and will always do so.

This is the point of dispute between the early generations and the leading scholars who affirmed this, and those who disputed it with them.

The philosophers say that the celestial sphere itself is eternal and beginningless, and has always been in motion. Yet this claim is false on many grounds.

It is necessarily known that this contradicts their position, as well as what the Quran, the Torah, and the other scriptures tell us. This differs from His having always spoken, always acted, or always been capable of acting, for these matters may be unclear to many people in terms of both revelation and reason.

As for the heavens and the earth being created and brought into existence after nonexistence, only a small group of unbelievers, such as Aristotle and his followers, have disputed this.

The majority of philosophers, together with the various groups of polytheists among the Indians, Arabs, and others, the Magians and others, and the People of the Book and others, agree that the heavens, the earth, and everything between them were brought into existence and created after not existing. They disagreed, however, about the matter from which all this was created,