at the time when the world was brought into being; thereafter, the singling out at all other times was due to causes arising within the world.”

These men, however, say that particular times are continually singled out for particular events without any cause, even though His relation to all times and events is the same.

The Ashʿarīs and those like them—even though they say that He continually singles out one time rather than another for events to occur, with nothing necessitating this singling out except sheer will, whose relation to all times and events is the same—are more consistent in their position than you are in yours. For you say that His relation to all times is the same, yet He has always singled out, and will always single out, each time for one event rather than another, despite His equal relation to all times.

Thus, although you maintain that action is perpetual and eternal, your position contradicts your own fundamental principle more than the positions of either the Muʿtazila or the Ashʿarīs contradict theirs.

Furthermore, it is known that motions differ, as do the bodies in motion. Not all motions proceed from the motion of the al-atlas sphere. Rather, each sphere—or the heavenly bodies within each sphere—has its own particular motion. People see with their own eyes that the motions of the five planets differ from those of the fixed stars. They also observe the motion of the sun, moon, and stars from east to west, contrary to the motion of the five planets and that of the fixed stars.

[Ibn Taymiyya’s comment]

Most astronomers say that it is the celestial spheres that move, although