If it is objected: “Rather, the particular act that is inseparable from the Essence lies within His power and is willed by Him, while the very power and will that condition it are themselves neither brought about by power nor intended by will,”

we reply: If we appeal to clear reason, there is no difference between positing a specific act that is necessary to an acting essence and positing any other property that inevitably belongs to that essence. The essence necessarily entails its particular concomitants; it cannot exist without them. To distinguish between two concomitants by saying, “This one attaches to Him through His power and will, whereas that one attaches to Him apart from power and will,” is to draw an arbitrary line between identical cases and to depart from what is intelligible in this matter.

Whoever turns away from the texts of the Prophets and claims “rational proofs” that contradict them—without possessing clear reason or valid analogy—speaks outside the bounds of both intellect and revelation, just as the people of Hell will say:

“If only we had listened or used our reason, we would not have been among the people of the Blaze” (Sūrah al-Mulk 67:10).

When this point is properly understood, the veil covering this subject is lifted: the very fact that an agent is an agent demands that the act be originated, whether in kind or in particular. An act that is not originated—neither in kind nor in instance—but is instead eternally concomitant with the agent’s essence is, in truth, no act at all.

Hence, the creatures’ very knowledge that a thing is created entails their knowledge that it was preceded by non-existence, for it is inconceivable that a created entity should coexist with its Creator and remain inseparable from Him eternally.

Accordingly, the word of God with which He sent His messengers is in full harmony with the innate disposition God has placed within His creatures—namely, that when it is said, “This is so-and-so’s act” or “his handiwork,”