then it is prior, not simultaneous. Since they maintain that the world is simultaneous with the Creator, and that no time can be conceived in which the Creator exists without the world also existing, they have affirmed its absolute simultaneity with Him and ruled out His being prior to it in any respect. Yet it is self-evident to reason that the agent who produces something must precede it, whether or not that agent is called a cause. Since the agent must precede the act, while their principle makes it impossible for Him to precede it, their position makes it impossible for Him to be the Lord of the worlds or the Creator of the world.

Furthermore, anything that must exist simultaneously with something else depends for its existence on the existence of its counterpart. The Creator’s existence would therefore be impossible without the existence of that which must exist simultaneously with Him—namely, the world. In this respect, the Creator would thus be dependent on the world. If He is said to be its cause—especially if entities independent of Him are affirmed—then He would certainly be dependent on something other than Himself. The monists among them explicitly state this, making the Creator and the world each dependent on the other.

By insisting that the world must exist simultaneously with Him and that He depends on it, they have made it His equal; likewise, by affirming that it is generated from Him, they have made Him its father. Thus they have made creation both Allah’s offspring and His equal. Yet He—glorified is He—has declared Himself free of any partner or offspring in numerous passages of His Book, as the Exalted says:

“And say, ‘All praise is for Allah, Who has never had any offspring, nor does He have a partner in His dominion.’” [al-Isrā’