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“Whoever wishes to attain complete knowledge of Allah Most High must investigate the benefits of all existing things. As for the argument from origination, it encompasses the existence of all animals, plants, and the heavens. This approach rests on two principles latent in the innate disposition of every human being.

The first is that these existing things have been brought into being. This is self-evident in the case of animals and plants, as Allah Most High says:

‘Indeed, those you invoke besides Allah will never create a fly, even if they all gathered together for that purpose.’ [al-Hajj: 73]

—to the end of the verse. We see inanimate bodies in which life then arises, and thus know with certainty that there is One who brings life into being and bestows it: Allah, Blessed and Most High. As for the heavens, we know from their unceasing movements that they are commanded to tend to what is here below and are subjected to our service. Whatever is subjected to service and commanded must necessarily have been brought into being by another.

The second principle is that everything brought into being has an originator. From these two principles, it follows that existing things have an agent who brings them into being. Within this category, there are as many proofs as there are things brought into being.