and later thinkers, to the point that Abū al-Barakāt, the author of al-Muʿtabar and the foremost among them in his time, said: “Why can the Creator’s divinity not be complete except on this view?” Al-Rāzī also said that all schools are bound to affirm this and that nothing in the rational proofs rules it out.

The purpose here is not to establish this view. Rather, the reply is: You have offered no argument other than your statement, “The same reasoning applies to what comes to be within His essence as to the world, which must have a cause for its coming into being.” That is indeed so. Yet you have offered no argument that such an occurrence is impossible beyond the original assertion: that nothing can proceed from Him after not having proceeded from Him. This is the very position at issue, so invoking it as an argument begs the question. They argue, however, that this leads to an infinite regress.