and his dependence on a Creator who created him and a Governor who ordered his affairs, said: Allah, exalted is He, has said:

‘Have you considered the semen you emit? * Is it you who create it, or are We the Creator?’

They could offer no argument to support the claim that they create it: they may desire a child, yet none comes into being; and they may not want one, yet one comes into being. He continued: Allah also said, drawing His creatures’ attention to His oneness:

‘And in yourselves. Will you not then see?’

Thus He showed them their powerlessness and their need for a Maker who made them and a Governor who ordered their affairs.”

Al-Qādī Abū Bakr said:

“Take account of the fact that the purpose of citing these two verses is to convey what Allah states explicitly in His Book concerning that to which reason has guided them, to make it more accessible, and to draw attention through revelation to the basis for the inference. Upon hearing it, a person is thus better placed to attain knowledge by grasping what he seeks to know and arranging his examination of it according to its proper requirements. The purpose is also to bring together, for the adherents of monotheism who acknowledge revelation, both rational proofs and revelation’s direction towards them, and to show that examining what Allah brings about through His power and reflecting upon it is a path to knowledge of its Maker, who exercises His governance through it and creates its very being.”

He said:

“As for the point to which His words draw attention: ‘Have you considered the semen you emit? * Is it you