The point here is that Abū al-Maʿālī and these others maintain that the Eternal One created the world after not having been its creator, without any cause or purpose, or any prompting, motive, or thought occurring to Him. For these, they claim, are confined to securing benefits and averting harms, and that is impossible in His case. Their debate on this matter is with the naturalist eternalists and the voluntarist Qadarites, and the view of