Rather, what demonstrates the falsity of their position is that we know through observation and sense perception that new events arise in the world. It is impossible for Him to have been their complete efficient cause from eternity, so His causal efficacy must become complete for each one of them. It is impossible for anything other than Him to originate them, whether through an intermediary or without one. Thus, no event comes into being except through Him, whether through an intermediary, such as the intellects, or without one. If the efficient cause were as they claim—a single, simple being in whom no attribute or volitional act subsists—His state when these events occur would be the same as His state before and after them.

The same holds in every case. Before a particular event occurred, He was not its complete cause; therefore, at the moment of its occurrence, He must likewise not be its complete cause. Hence, according to their own principles, nothing could come into being.

If they say:

“Celestial motions and planetary conjunctions occurred that prepared the recipients to receive His emanation,”

they are told:

“This is valid only if the recipients and their dispositions come from a source other than the agent supplying the emanation, as in the case of the sun, and as they maintain concerning the active intellect.”

As for the Creator, exalted is He, both the preparation and the supply come from Him. Everything other than Him—recipients and what they receive, dispositions and what is supplied—comes from Him, not from anyone else, whether through an intermediary or without one.