necessary, unless it were possible for the nature of the contingent to become necessary. Likewise, necessary natures admit no contingency whatsoever, whether their necessity is intrinsic or derived from another.”

He said:

“These are all fanciful tales and claims weaker than those of the theologians. They are all foreign intrusions into philosophy, inconsistent with the philosophers’ own principles. None of these claims even reaches the level of rhetorical persuasion, let alone dialectical persuasion. Thus Abū Hāmid is right to say in several places in his books: ‘Their metaphysical sciences are conjectural.’”

He also said, when seeking to establish Aristotle’s view: everything that comes into being is preceded by the possibility of nonexistence, and possibility must have a substrate. Abū Hāmid had refuted this by arguing that the possibility they speak of amounts to a judgment of reason: thus, whatever