the argument for the existence of the Maker, what al-Rāzī stated in Nihāyat al-'uqūl and elsewhere.

[Al-Rāzī’s discussion of the argument for the existence of Allah, Exalted is He, and Ibn Taymiyya’s commentary]

Elsewhere, we have discussed what he said on this subject in al-Arba'īn.

He said in al-Nihāya:

“Know that inference concerning what is known self-evidently must proceed from what is known self-evidently. What is known self-evidently consists of bodies and the accidents that subsist in them. Each may be considered with respect either to its contingency or to its coming into being. Thus, the arguments establishing the Maker, Exalted is He, consist of these four approaches.”

He mentioned that the first approach is to argue that bodies came into being because accidents, or some of them, subsist in them. This is the well-known approach of the Jahmiyya and Mu'tazila, those among the Ash'ariyya and Karrāmiyya who followed them, and the jurists who adopted it, whether followers of the four imams or others.