for Him to act after not having acted. Thus, what they posit as a complete cause is only something that must be accompanied by its act. We have already said that no such thing exists. Their assertion that an act cannot exist unless a complete cause exists in this sense is therefore false. Rather, all the causes we observe may fail to produce their effects, so they are not complete in their view; nevertheless, their effects do occur in their presence.

Furthermore, even if it were conceded that no effect could proceed from these causes, it would not follow that the Creator is likewise, or that, if an act does not necessarily proceed from Him, He is not a complete cause and therefore no act can proceed from Him. Rather, it is utterly false to say of Allah Most High that He does not act until it is impossible for Him to act, and that He cannot act unless He must act—so that His act is either necessary, leaving Him unable to refrain from it, or impossible, leaving Him unable to perform it. Indeed, this denies His power, which His action demonstrates. They have thereby made Him more powerless and deficient than created beings generally. For none of them is in a state in which what arises from it is either necessary, such that it cannot possibly fail to exist, or impossible, such that it cannot possibly exist.

We know that things which exist necessarily exist because Allah Most High wills them, while things which do not exist cannot exist because Allah does not will them. Whatever Allah wills happens, and whatever He does not will does not happen. Necessity and impossibility thus depend on whether Allah wills or does not will. As for necessity and impossibility depending on some other cause, that is false and contrary to reality. Whoever surveys existing things will find nothing that necessitates an effect and cannot be