are a form of falsehood and untruth, even if they did not intend to lie, as with other false doctrines.”

These two methods, which Abū al-Husayn described as his own and his teachers’, are the ones relied upon by many who affirm the divine attributes and who used the argument from accidents and motions to establish that bodies came into existence, such as al-Qādī Abū Bakr, al-Qādī Abū Yaʿlā in al-Muʿtamad), and others. They followed this method, establishing that accidents exist, that bodies are never without them, that they do not endure for two instants, and that they came into existence. They further established that whatever is never without them must itself have come into existence, because events have a beginning. They ruled out the existence of anything infinite without qualification, discussed the dispute over this with Muʿammar, al-Nazzām, Ibn al-Rāwandī, and others, and supported their position with arguments similar to those presented earlier.

They said:
“Whatever is inseparable from events must itself have come into existence.”

They also said:
“Once it is established that this came into existence, it must have an originator who brought it into existence and a maker who made it, contrary to the atheists, who deny the Maker.”

They said:
“The proof of this is that, if something that came into existence did not depend upon an originator, neither would writing depend