come to an end, without offering any proof whatsoever. They do not distinguish between the two kinds, and they base all the foundations of religion on this.

Among these authors is one who joins the proponents of the oneness of existence who claim true understanding and spiritual knowledge. He regards Ibn al-Fārid’s poem as sound because he studied it under al-Qūnawī and helped one of his brethren write a commentary on it. Yet they claim to be foremost in the world in monotheism, true understanding, and knowledge.

Let the discerning reader consider what sort of Lord these people have established, the method by which they establish His existence, and their contradictions concerning it. Those who affirm the oneness of existence maintain, either explicitly or by implication, that the world is eternal, which entails an infinite regress. Yet the proof by which this author established the Necessary Existent rests principally on denying everything termed an infinite regress.

Moreover, in his writings on the foundations of religion, he states that the world came into existence, agreeing with the speculative theologians who reject infinite regress without qualification, whether in causes or effects. Yet he joins these others in affirming the oneness of existence, which entails the world’s eternity and an infinite regress, agreeing with the Sufis among the heretical philosophers, such as Ibn al-Arabī, Ibn Sab‘īn, Ibn al-Fārid, and their like.