He then raised several questions against his own argument. Among them was the following objection:

“Why do you say that these attributes are beginningless? You argue that everyone who affirms these attributes affirms that they are beginningless. We reply: Affirming their existence is one question, and affirming their beginninglessness is another. If establishing one of these two propositions necessarily established the other, then affirming that He, exalted is He, knows through beginningless knowledge would necessarily establish that He speaks through beginningless speech. Even if we grant that this kind of consensus entails the beginninglessness of Allah’s speech, it is opposed by another kind of consensus: no one in the Muslim community has established the beginninglessness of Allah’s speech by the method you have mentioned. Thus, relying on your argument would violate consensus.”

In response, he stated:

“The objection is: ‘If affirming this attribute necessarily establishes its beginninglessness—because everyone who affirms the former affirms the latter—then affirming beginningless knowledge would necessarily establish beginningless speech, because everyone who affirms the former affirms the latter.’

We reply: The distinction between the two cases is set out in al-Mahsūl