in any respect, and everything other than Him must always be dependent on Him and in need of Him, at all times.

Here arises the dispute over the second question: does a temporally originated, created being depend on the Creator who brings it into existence only when it is brought into being, or does it depend on Him continually? Speculative thinkers hold two views on this.

Many adherents of the innovated speculative theology received from Jahm, Abū al-Hudhayl, and their followers among the Muʿtazilites and others maintain that it depends on Him only when it is brought into being, not during its continued existence. This position stands opposed to that of the eternalist philosophers, who say:

“The contingent being’s dependence on the Necessary Being does not entail its temporal origination; rather, it depends on Him throughout its continued existence, eternally, without beginning or end.”

These philosophers claim that there is activity without anything coming into being, while the others claim that the created being does not continually depend on or need the Creator. Both positions are false, as has been explained at length elsewhere.

The point here is that many of the premises they employ in their arguments to establish the Maker’s existence, even when true, are unnecessary for most people whose innate dispositions are sound, although someone troubled by a doubt may benefit from them.