until He does something.”
For something to come into existence without a newly occurring cause is impossible.
The second is to say:
“He brings no effect into existence unless a power, a will, knowledge, or something similar comes into existence.”
And that, in turn, comes into existence only when something necessitating its occurrence comes into existence. It follows that He would bring nothing into existence, for this is an infinite regress in what completes causal efficacy.
An infinite regress in what completes causal efficacy is like an infinite regress of causes. Just as it is impossible for each cause to derive its causal status only from another cause, and to exert causal influence only through another cause, and impossible for there to be an endless series of causes and effects, so too it is impossible for something to become a complete cause or agent only through the existence of some further factor, whose own completion depends on another completing factor, and so on without end.
This, too, is impossible by the agreement of all rational people.
But if it is said that nothing exists until something else exists before it, and that this second thing does not exist until something else exists before it, this is the well-known point of dispute. It concerns an infinite regress of particular effects, not an infinite regress in the very basis of causal efficacy. The distinction between the two must therefore be understood.
Al-Suhrawardī formulated this argument in his book entitled Hikmat al-Ishrāq (The Philosophy of Illumination), in which he presented the substance of his thought. He did not merely follow the Peripatetics in it; rather, he exposed their errors on various points and set out the approach of the Magian philosophers of Persia and the philosophers of India.
Likewise, Ibn Sīnā, in his book entitled al-Hikma al-Mashriqiyya (Eastern Philosophy), explained what he considered demonstratively established, as did al-Rāzī in al-Mabāhith al-Mashriqiyya (Eastern Investigations).
[The Words of al-Suhrawardī, Who Was Put to Death, in “The Philosophy of Illumination”]
The Words of al-Suhrawardī, Who Was Put to Death, in The Philosophy of Illumination
Al-Suhrawardī said:
“The Light of Lights and the dominating lights—meaning the Necessary