arguing from their coming into being is that the former entails that the agent is not a body, whereas the latter does not.”

[Ibn Taymiyyah’s Commentary]

I say:

This approach is part of the approach set forth in the Quran, which the messengers brought and which was followed by the early generations of the Muslim community, its leading scholars, and the great majority of rational people. For Allah, glorified be He, mentions in His verses what He brings into being in the world: clouds, rain, plants, animals, and other things that come into being. He also mentions in His verses the creation of the heavens and the earth, the alternation of night and day, and similar matters.

However, those among the Muʿtazilah who affirm the existence of the indivisible atom, together with the Ashʿarīs and others who agree with them, call this an argument from the coming into being of attributes. They base this on the claim that these things whose coming into being is witnessed have not themselves come into being as entities. Rather, the substances and bodies that existed beforehand have remained in existence ever since they came into being—on the supposition of their temporal occurrences—and continue to exist. Only their attributes have changed, assuming their coming into being, just as the attributes of a body change when it moves after being at rest, or as its colours and shapes change.

This is among the claims that the great majority of rational people, Muslims and others alike, reject.