temporally originated; otherwise, His essence, before possessing that attribute, would have lacked an attribute of perfection. Whatever lacks a perfection that it could possess is deficient, and deficiency in Allah is impossible by the consensus of the Muslim community. If it is not an attribute of perfection, it is impossible for the Creator to possess it, since the Muslim community unanimously agrees that all of Allah’s attributes are attributes of perfection. Affirming an attribute that is not an attribute of perfection therefore violates that consensus, which is impermissible.”

He said:

“This is what we rely upon, and it combines transmitted evidence and reason.”

He said:

“The argument upon which the scholars of our school relied is that, if He could possess temporal occurrences, He would necessarily have possessed temporal occurrences or their opposites from eternity. This would entail His possessing temporal occurrences from eternity, which is impossible.”

He said:

“This argument rests upon the premise that whatever can receive two contraries cannot be devoid of both. You already know that this premise is unsound.”

He said:

“Some scholars of our school have presented this argument in a form that does not require basing it upon that premise: if He could receive temporal occurrences, He would have been able to receive them from eternity. A thing’s capacity to receive something depends upon the possibility of what is received existing. This would entail the possibility of temporal occurrences arising in beginningless eternity, which is impossible.”

He said:

“However, this is countered by the fact that Allah has been capable from eternity, yet His being capable from eternity does not entail that what lies within His power could be eternal. The same applies here.”