The second is that whatever is never devoid of originated occurrences is itself originated.

To establish the “first premise,” they appealed to the existence of accidents, or some of them; their origination, or the origination of some of them; and the fact that bodies are never devoid of them, or of some of them. Sometimes they argue from the conjunction and separation they observe. At other times, they maintain that bodies must necessarily be in motion or at rest—these four categories being what they call akwān (states).

This is the argument of those who affirm the divine attributes: they argue from these states and say that Allah Most High cannot be described by them. Others among them, however, argue only from the possibility of conjunction and separation, not motion and rest, so that they can consistently describe the Lord by the latter. They speak of this, of which substances are never devoid. This is based