[Al-Āmidī’s discussion of whether the existence of Allah Most High is additional to His essence, with commentary]

One of the most astonishing things is that this al-Āmidī, when discussing whether His existence is additional to His essence, presented the argument of those who say that His existence is not additional to His essence. He said:

“They argued that if His existence were additional to His essence, it would necessarily be either necessary or contingent. It cannot be necessary, because it depends on the essence, since it is an attribute of it; and nothing that depends on something else can be necessary. Thus, if His existence were additional to His essence, it would not be necessary. The only remaining possibility is that it is contingent. If it is contingent, it must have an agent that brings it about. That agent is either the essence itself or something external to it. The former is impossible, because it would entail the essence being both recipient and agent. Moreover, the agent that brings existence about must itself exist. Hence, the essence’s bringing about its own existence depends on its existence. Thus existence depends on