This is the method that al-Ash'arī described as that of the philosophers and those among the Qadariyya who followed them. He stated that it was a blameworthy innovation in religion, not pursued by the righteous predecessors. He also described it as hazardous and innovated, and stated that there was no need for it.

Al-Rāzī said:

The second approach is “to infer the existence of the Maker, Exalted is He, from the contingency of bodies.”

He said:

“This is the philosophers’ principal argument.”

I say: This is the method of Ibn Sīnā and those who agreed with him, not the method of the ancient philosophers. It rests on their unsound principle concerning divine oneness and the negation of attributes, whose invalidity and their inconsistencies concerning it have been demonstrated. This is the argument from composition, in which they say that whatever possesses attributes is composite, and whatever is composite depends on its constituent parts. We have discussed this in several places.

Al-Rāzī said:

“The third approach is to infer the existence of the Maker from the contingency of attributes, whether bodies are necessary or contingent, eternal or brought into being.”