And His words in the other verse:

“The Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.”

These explain that He, Glorified is He, creates things by His word and that they submit to Him: when He says to something, “Be,” it comes into being. This is incompatible with begetting. Rather, He created the Messiah, peace be upon him, by the word “Be.”

It is known from observable experience that someone who governs things merely by his word is not like someone who needs things to be generated from him. How, then, can procreation be attributed to Him when, in everything He decrees, He, Glorified is He, merely says, “Be,” and it is?

As for his citation of the words of Allah Most High:

“Were We wearied by the first creation?”

And that speaker’s assertion, “Whoever denied creation did not deny it on the grounds that He had been wearied by the first creation,” the reply is:

If a heretic attacking the Quran were to utter such words, they would reveal ignorance and misguidance beyond human description. For Allah Most High has presented in His Book proofs and demonstrations of the Resurrection that no one can come close to matching, and has set forth various kinds of arguments from which people at large can benefit.