since the existence of that which entails something necessarily entails the existence of its consequence. Thus, if falsehood were a necessary consequence of truth, falsehood would be true, for a sound argument entails only truth. A true claim, however, may be supported by either a sound or an unsound argument.

Among the chief foundations upon which the speculative theologians who deny divine acts and some or all divine attributes built their principles, with which they opposed the Quran and the Sunnah, is this position: denying that His acts and other things that He wills and has power over subsist in His essence.

[Al-Rāzī and al-Āmidī on the arguments of those who deny this]

Abū ‘Abd Allāh al-Rāzī, together with Abū al-Hasan al-Āmidī and their followers, presented the arguments of those who deny this and refuted them all. Their only argument for denying it was that, if what subsists in Him is an attribute of perfection, its absence before it arose would have been an imperfection; and if it is an imperfection, possessing it would mean being characterized by imperfection. Allah Most High is far above that.

This argument is weak, and perhaps weaker than those they judged weak. We shall now present what