say that they create what they emit, even though they may desire a child and yet have none, or dislike having one and yet have one.

And, drawing His creatures’ attention to His oneness, He said:

“And in yourselves—will you not then see?”

Thus He made clear to them their helplessness and their need for a Maker who made them and a Disposer who ordered their affairs.”

[Ibn Taymiyyah’s commentary]

I say:

This proof rests on two premises: that a human being passes from one state to another, and that this necessarily requires a Maker who brings about that transition. Both premises are self-evident.

The first concerns the coming into being of bodily attributes, as explained earlier: some speculative theologians maintain that what is observed is the coming into being of attributes, not of the entities themselves, whereas most people hold otherwise.

This is the Quran’s approach. However, the argument from the coming into being of attributes is the closest of these methods to the Quran’s approach. As for the second premise, it is self-evident, which is why Abū al-Hasan offered no proof for it. Yet many of his followers say that it is a method of proof, agreeing with those Mu‘tazilites who said so.

Al-Bāqillānī’s explanation of al-Ash‘arī’s words

For this reason, some Mu‘tazilites objected to Abū al-Hasan’s statement, and the objector was answered by