the early generations, the imams, and other rational thinkers.

For these people maintain that Allah cannot annihilate any body or accident. Rather, these cease to exist when He does not create the accidents that require continual renewal and origination. When He does not bring these accidents into being, bodies cease to exist and perish of themselves, since they cannot exist without accidents. If children said such things, they would be laughed at.

As for the second premise, it is that events must be finite in number. Their arguments refuting all the evidence adduced for this have already been presented.

The objections raised by al-Amūrī and others against the method set out by al-Āmidī, together with the demonstration of its invalidity, have also been presented.

This, then, is the sum of the arguments advanced on these questions by these foremost masters of rational inquiry and leading authorities in theology and philosophy. Their criticisms of one another have shown these arguments to be invalid.

This is the sum of what they set against the Quran and the Sunnah, calling it conclusive rational proofs. They say that such reasoning must take precedence over the texts of revelation, the authentic reports from the Messenger, and the consensus of the early generations of the Muslim community and its imams.

Even if there were nothing in reason that accorded with the Messenger’s teaching, it would not be permissible to oppose it