dependence upon anything other than Himself.

Whoever calls this dependence upon another is like someone who says that He depends upon His attribute. It has been stated more than once that this is like saying that He depends upon Himself. Used without qualification, this does not contradict His necessary self-sufficiency; rather, this is the only conceivable self-sufficiency.

If by a cause you mean something that is not brought about by Him, you must conclude that anything for which His essence does not suffice, and which is not necessarily entailed by it from eternity, can exist only through a partner alongside Allah who is not among the things He has brought into being. Besides being false according to the consensus you share with the adherents of the religions, this is also known to be false through clear reason, as has already been explained.

Fifth:
It may be said: What do you mean when you say, “His essence is sufficient for that”? Do you mean the essence considered apart from any act subsisting in it, or the essence characterized by an act subsisting in it? Whichever you mean, your claim is invalid.

If you mean the first, it follows that the essence, considered apart from any act subsisting in it, performs various successive acts, even though its state when doing one thing is the same as when doing something different, and its state is the same whether the effect exists or not. This is false.

It may then be said: If this can be true, then its state before acting and while acting can be the same. Thus, it is possible to maintain that temporal events have a beginning; and if