this manner of creation, for an outcome superior to that wise purpose to be achieved, or one inferior to it, or one sharing its genus but not its species. If, however, the very same wise purpose were to be achieved, it could only be achieved through a like means.

Do you not see that the people of Paradise will be greater in body and stature than they are in this world, while these wise purposes will be realized more fully and perfectly there? Even supposing that the opponent does not believe such things, it is observable that people’s sight, hearing, and other faculties vary in strength and weakness, so the benefits they derive from them also vary. Yet it is self-evident that if what one person possesses were given to another, and what the latter possesses were given to the former, the particular allocation would be lost, but this would not negate the underlying wisdom.

Likewise, lands differ in the provisions, rivers, and dwellings created within them, and so the ways in which they benefit people differ, although the fundamental purpose is attained in them all. Allah may also transfer what is found in some lands