its being everlasting is that it continues to exist forever, or that its existence has no end.

For the nonexistence of something to be beginningless means that it had always been nonexistent until it came into existence, even if its nonexistence coincided with the existence of something else.

The person who says this maintains that these states of nonexistence cannot conceivably coexist at any time whatsoever. Rather, at every moment, some things are nonexistent while others exist. Thus, the statement, ‘These states of nonexistence coexist in beginningless eternity,’ presupposes that their coexistence is possible, whereas their coexistence is impossible.”

A fuller discussion of this will follow.

[The Third Argument and Commentary on It]

Al-Rāzī said:

“The third: If no motion occurs in beginningless eternity, or if one occurs but is not preceded by another, then they all have a beginning. If it is preceded by another, then beginningless eternity is preceded by something else.”

Al-Armawī said:

“One might say: None of the motions