and this is what they mean by spatial extension and the mental positing of place. Likewise, the mind conceives of these times as encompassed by a broader duration, imagines within it a succession like that of these times, and conceives of this duration even in their absence. The purpose here is not to discuss whether this duration and spatial extension actually exist, as some maintain, or have no existence outside the mind, as the majority maintain. Rather, the purpose is to compare the two.

It is known that there must be a necessarily existent being, and that this cannot be disputed. That being is Allah—there is no deity but Him—the Creator of all things. Undoubtedly, He has always existed, and His nonexistence is impossible, for necessary existence precludes even the possibility of nonexistence, let alone its actuality. Whether one maintains that the world originated or that it has always existed and exists necessarily through Him, there is no disagreement that the world depends upon Him and needs Him, and that He precedes it in rank, supremacy, and essence.

Those who hold the latter view may also say that the world is originated. By its origination, they mean its existence through the Lord, its necessary existence through Him, and its dependence upon Him. They do not stipulate that an originated thing must first have been nonexistent and then come into existence. Yet established linguistic usage accords with the customary usage of the speculative theologians and others: an originated thing is something that came to be after not existing. Indeed, the linguistic meaning of “originated” is narrower than its meaning among the speculative theologians, for “newly originated” and “recent” stand in contrast to “old” and “earlier.”