we have demonstrated to be false elsewhere. Thus, following this method may ultimately lead a person to deny the existence of a necessary being distinct from contingent beings, as asserted by the advocates of the unity of existence among the later Sufis affiliated with these philosophers, such as Ibn ʿArabī, Ibn Sabʿīn, and others like them. The unity of existence is a doctrine that Aristotle and his followers attributed to a group of philosophers and refuted.

The doctrine of those who affirm the unity of existence is, in substance, that of the atheistic naturalist eternalists who say:

“Nothing exists except this observable world, whose existence is necessary in itself.”

This is the doctrine that Pharaoh openly proclaimed. Yet these two groups disagree over what to call this existent: one group calls it by Allah’s names, while the other does not. One group believes that the God of whom the messengers spoke is this existent, while the other does not say this. One group directs itself toward absolute existence, while the other does not.

The falsity of their doctrine can be established in several ways. Among them is our knowledge of things that we observe coming into existence, such as rain