[Ibn Taymiyyah’s Commentary]

I say:

One might object that most ordinary people do not know this argument. Indeed, they do not even know what the term “body” denotes in the terminology of those who employ it, nor do they know that air is called a body. Moreover, most scholars engaged in inquiry in philosophy, speculative theology, jurisprudence, hadith, and Sufism have not acknowledged the validity of this argument; rather, they have declared it invalid.

The early generations and the leading scholars regarded this as false, innovated theological speculation. None of the prophets or their followers ever called anyone to reason towards knowledge of Allah by this method. Rather, it was introduced into Islam by those who introduced innovations into Islam, such as the Jahmiyyah, the Muʿtazilah, and others like them.

What ordinary people and scholars alike do know, however, is that every human being has been brought into existence after not existing, that he is not his own maker, and that he was not made by another like himself. Hence Allah, glorified is He, used this as evidence in His words:

“Or were they created by nothing, or are they the creators?”

Likewise, they know that whatever they witness coming into existence has been brought into existence, and they know various kinds of evidence other than this.

[Continuation of Ibn al-Zāghūnī’s Discussion]

Abū al-Hasan ibn al-Zāghūnī said:

“As for their claim that he may encounter specious doubts that cause him to lose his grasp of what he knows and undermine his confidence, this is not so, for two reasons:

First, the imagined grounds of these doubts cannot match what we have mentioned. Thus, whatever specious doubts fall short