the discourse condemned by the early generations, the rational arguments said to conflict with the Messenger, and what demonstrates that these people have contradicted sensory evidence and reason.

For we observe these visible entities changing from one state to another, just as we observe the sun, moon, and stars moving, rising at one time and setting at another. We also observe clouds and winds moving; with clouds, however, we observe their gathering and dispersal, and rain emerging from within them. We observe water moving, gathering, and separating. We observe plants and animals growing and expanding, whereas nothing of this kind occurs in water, air, or the celestial spheres.

The movement involved in their growth and nourishment is not of the same kind as the movement of water, air, and stars. The former brings about changes and transformations in the growing organism that receives nourishment which the latter does not. The stars themselves do not undergo transformation or change through movement, unlike a child who grows older after being small, or crops that grow thick and stand firmly upon their stalks.

We also observe firewood becoming ash and smoke, oil becoming smoke, and water becoming vapour. This is not like the growth of something small: it involves a transformation and a change from one reality into another that does not occur in the growth of crops and animals.

And we observe Allah bringing forth crops from the earth and fruit from trees, and bringing forth animals from animals.