that an effect is willed entails that it came into being. Indeed, merely conceding that something is an effect entails that it came into being.

As for an eternal, willed effect that has always accompanied, and will always accompany, its agent, who wills it and produces it through an eternal will and an eternal act—this is something most rational people know by rational necessity.

Thus, supposing that the Creator has always willed to do one thing after another, everything other than Him would have come into being after not having existed. His will would be eternal in the sense that it is eternal in kind, even though each thing brought into being is willed through a will that comes into being.

He said:

“It has thus become clear to you from all this that the well-known Ashʿarī paths to knowledge of Allah Most High are neither paths of rational inquiry yielding certainty nor scriptural paths yielding certainty.

“This is evident to anyone who considers the kinds of evidence in the Noble Book that draw attention to this matter—namely, knowledge of the existence of the Maker, exalted is He.

“For when the scriptural paths are examined, they are generally found to combine two qualities:

“First, they yield certainty.

“Second, they are simple, not