There are three kinds of motion: coerced, natural, and volitional. The reason for limiting them to these three is that the origin of motion is either found within the moving object itself or in an external cause. If the object can move only through something outside itself—such as a stone being made to rise—its motion is coerced. If the cause lies within the object, then either the mover has perception or it does not: if it possesses perception, the motion is volitional; if not, it is natural.

Natural motion among the elements occurs only when a body has departed from its proper center; thus earth, when resting in its own place, has no intrinsic tendency to move. Accordingly, the composites generated from the elements do not move unless a coercive force compels the elements to move toward one another. Since even natural and coerced motions require an external mover, it becomes clear that the root of all motion is will. Hence will is the first principle behind every motion in both the upper and lower realms.

If the Lord is the One who moves everything without intermediary, then He is an agent who acts by choice, their basic premise collapses, and the occurrence of miracles by His sheer will—without any other cause—becomes entirely possible. Should He set things in motion through the mediation of other wills, those wills are the angels. Numerous proofs establish that God brings things into being through causes, and this shows that the angels are the intermediaries in what God creates, just as the Most High says: “By those who arrange the affairs” (Qur’an 79:5) and “By those who apportion each matter” (Qur’an 51:4).

Once their existence is acknowledged, the occurrence of events through their agency is perfectly possible, and the claim of those who insist that only the three previously mentioned causes exist is refuted.