“Bear children for death, and build for ruin;
and whatever a mother bears is destined for death.”

But as for one who knows the outcome and has the power to bring it about or prevent it, that outcome cannot conceivably occur without his knowing it and having power over it. Whatever Allah brings into existence, knowing it and having power over it, cannot exist unless He wills it. Indeed, Abū al-Maʿālī and all the other affirmationists concede that nothing occurs except by His will. Thus He wills the end, and when an agent wills the end of an act, the lām cannot, in his case, be the lām of outcome, since the lām of outcome applies only to someone who does not will that outcome. So had he said that His willing these ends is like His willing the acts that