unless, of course, it is said that this knowledge has itself become an object of knowledge, in which case it would have a form insofar as it is known, not insofar as it is knowledge.

His statement:

“You apprehend something through a form that you conceive and call to mind. It proceeds from you, and you do not apprehend that form through anything else. Rather, just as you apprehend that thing through it, you also apprehend the form itself through itself.”

The reply is:

His statement, “It proceeds from you,” can only be understood with reference to what a person does. As for the cognitive form arising within him, this may be necessary, occurring without any act on his part. Even if it is inferential, it becomes necessary once its cause is present.

Thus, most of those who maintain that generated effects are not acquired acts regard all knowledge as necessary. As Abū al-Maʿālī said:

“Our preferred position is that all knowledge is necessary.”

In that case, this intellectual form does not proceed from him; rather, it arises within him without his choice.

The Lord’s beginningless knowledge, which is inseparable from His essence—such as His knowledge of Himself—is not said to proceed from Him or to be something He produces. Rather, it is like His life.

As for newly occurring instances of hearing, sight, and knowledge of an existent as existing, those who affirm these may regard them as proceeding from Him. As for His knowledge of the things He wills to do before doing them, people hold different views on this, corresponding to their disagreement over this underlying principle.

On every view and under every assumption, it is not the case that the form of the known object which He created