at issue, and would therefore be unacceptable. If by change you mean something other than newly arising events subsisting in the essence of Allah Most High, that is not conceded ن, nor is there any way to establish it by proof.

[Ibn Taymiyya’s comment]

I say: In ordinary usage, the word “change” implies a transformation in something. Thus, when someone falls ill, people say, “Illness has changed him.” When the sun turns yellow, they say, “It has changed”; and when foods undergo a transformation, they are said to have changed. Allah Most High says:

“In it are rivers of water that does not become stale, rivers of milk whose taste does not change, and rivers of wine delicious to those who drink.”

Muhammad: 15. A change in taste is a transformation from sweetness to sourness or the like.

Another example is the jurists’ statement: “If an impurity falls into a large quantity of water, the water does not become impure unless its taste, colour, or smell changes.” They also say: “If water becomes impure through a change, its impurity ceases when that change disappears.” They do not say that water has changed merely because it flows while remaining clear. Nor, without qualification, are fruit and food said to have changed when moved from one place to another. Likewise, they do not say that someone has changed merely because he walks, stands, or sits—unless, of course, some contextual indication warrants that description. Nor do they say of the sun and the stars, when they are