from the will that is inseparable from His essence; and a necessary concomitant of a necessary concomitant is itself a necessary concomitant.

Simply considering that His effect necessarily follows from Him establishes His knowledge, even without considering the mediation of His will. His will is nevertheless established in reality, even if the person presenting the argument does not have its existence in mind.

This proof holds according to the principles of Ahl al-Sunnah, who say that His will is among His attributes that are inseparable from His essence. As for the Qadariyyah, who deny that a will subsists in Him—either denying it or saying that He brought a will into existence without its subsisting in any subject—they do not follow this line of argument.

This proof is drawn from the meaning of His words:

“Does He who created not know?” [al-Mulk: 14]

The verse’s implication can also be established in a second way: the Creator’s act of creation presupposes His conception of what He creates before creating it. For creation occurs only through will, and will presupposes knowledge: willing something of which one has no awareness is impossible. Since He creates only by His will and wills only what He conceives, it necessarily follows that He knows everything He has created.

This is a well-known line of argument among Muslim rational thinkers. The Quran indicates it, and sound reason recognizes its validity. Following this proof through according to the principles of Ahl al-Sunnah yields the conclusion that no one other than Allah creates anything. For anyone other than Allah lacks comprehensive knowledge of the particulars of his actions and therefore is not their creator. Although he is aware of them in certain respects and wills them in certain respects, he performs them only in that respect.

This is the line of argument al-Ashʿarī followed to establish that a person is not the creator of his own actions.