the Messengers and altered the innate disposition with which Allah created mankind. Every question they raise concerning His being a creator and agent confronts them with an even greater difficulty concerning His generation of the world or His coexistence with it.

From this the sixth point becomes clear: Nothing resembles the Necessary Existent. No equal, rival, or likeness may be ascribed to Him in His actions, just as none may be ascribed to Him in His attributes and names. Among His unique characteristics is that whatever He wills comes to pass, and whatever He does not will does not come to pass, and that He does whatever He wills. No other being endowed with power has this standing. Others do not accomplish whatever they will; rather, they may be unable to do so.

Since the all-encompassing scope and efficacy of His will are unique to Him, He acts when He wills and refrains when He wills. His essence itself necessitates this will pertaining to action, even though no other being possesses such a will. For no other being is necessarily existent, nor are its attributes necessary in any respect, just as its essence is not itself necessary. Rather, its essence can exist without its attributes, even if that essence is necessary through another. Just as Allah has no equal in His attributes, He has no equal in His actions.

The seventh point reinforces this: They say that He generated the celestial sphere, whether through the mediation of a celestial sphere, through an intellect and a soul, or without any intermediary. The celestial sphere has a will by which it produces the events of the world in succession. Thus, if they ascribe to Him