Their claim that the heavenly spheres, the substance of those spheres, the intellects and souls, or anything else, are eternal is supported by no proof whatsoever. We have treated this question in detail elsewhere and have reviewed everything that has been cited in this connection, showing that none of it requires the pre-eternity of any part of the universe. This, in fact, is the limit to which rational investigation can reach in this matter.

Hence Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Rāzī, in the conclusion of his book entitled Al-Arbaʿīn, devoted the fortieth and final question to laying down the premises to which one must return when establishing rational claims. He ended by saying: “Be aware that there are two premises upon which the theologians and the philosophers build most of their discussions.

“The first is the premise of perfection and deficiency. Thus they say, ‘This attribute is a perfection, so it must be affirmed for God, mighty and majestic; that attribute is a deficiency, so it must be negated of God, mighty and majestic.’”

He further stated, “Most of the schools of the theologians branch out from this very premise.”