There remains the question that Bishr pressed upon Abd al-Azīz when he said to him:

“You too must say that He has always been acting and creating. If so, it follows that created things have always existed alongside Allah. For if that which comes into existence does not require a cause that itself comes into existence, eternal power is sufficient. If it does require such a cause, then the same argument applies to that cause’s coming into existence as to whatever came into existence through it. This entails an infinite succession of things coming into existence. You must therefore say that He has always been acting and creating, so created things would exist alongside Him.”

Abd al-Azīz replied:

“I have not said that the Creator has always been creating and the Doer has always been acting, such that your conclusion would be binding upon me. Rather, action is an attribute; Allah has power to perform it, and nothing prevents Him from doing so.”

In the other version:

“Rather, I said: ‘The Creator has always been one who would create, and the Doer one who would act,’ because action is an attribute; Allah has power to perform it, and nothing prevents Him from doing so.”

The substance of his statement is this: I did not say that Allah has always been creating and producing things separate from Him. Nor does this conclusion bind me as it binds you, because you have made created things come into existence through eternal power without an act of the One possessing power that subsists in Him. If created things depend on nothing other than power, and that power is eternal, then created things must exist alongside it. Otherwise, this would entail favoring one alternative over another without a determining factor, and things coming into existence without a cause, since power endures from eternity