If, then, you call everything of this kind an agent acting by nature, why do you say that everything of this kind longs for a state over which it has no control?

[Section. Return to Ibn Rushd’s Discussion in Manāhij al-Adillah and Ibn Taymiyyah’s Commentary on It]

Section.
Return to Ibn Rushd’s Discussion in Manāhij al-Adillah and Ibn Taymiyyah’s Commentary on It

Then Ibn Rushd said:

“If it is asked: ‘Since it has now become clear that none of these approaches is the scriptural approach through which revelation called all people, despite their differing natural dispositions, to acknowledge the existence of the Creator, what is the scriptural approach to which the Book draws attention and on which the Companions relied?’

We reply:

When the Book is examined, the scriptural approaches to which it draws attention, and through which it calls everyone, are found to fall into two categories:

The first comprises ways of recognizing the providential care bestowed on humankind and the creation of all existing things for its sake. This is called the argument from providence.