But this example is not an exact parallel, because “I will not give you” negates the present and future, not the past. Thus, if he says, “I will not give you anything now or afterward unless I have given you something before it,” this entails that he cannot perform an act now until he performs an act in the past, which is impossible. It is like saying, “I will not act until I act,” which combines two contradictories.

The appropriate example is instead: “I never gave you a dirham without having given you a dirham before it.” Both acts are in the past.

If someone says, “Nothing occurs without something occurring after it,” the corresponding example would be: “Nothing occurred without something having occurred before it.” He does not say, “Nothing occurs after it.” The corresponding example would be: “Nothing occurred without something having occurred before it.” He does not say, “Nothing will occur in the future unless something has occurred before it.”

Anything that has a beginning and an end, such as a person’s lifespan, cannot contain a succession of gifts that has no end or no beginning. Rather, the discussion concerns that which has always been and will always be.

People hold several positions on whether something infinite can exist.

The first is that this is absolutely impossible—in the past, future, and present, and in everything. This is the position of Jahm and Abū al-Hudhayl.

The second is that this is possible, even in the case of infinite dimensions. This is the position of a group of Indian philosophers, a group of speculative thinkers among the adherents of the religion, and others. They say that the Lord has an infinite magnitude. Some of these say that it is infinite in