of providence, which points to will, mercy, and care, and to the Maker. He went on to say:

“There are many methods of argument, but in this book we have chosen those that are easiest to understand and closest to the approaches of the early generations and the scholars. Allah Most High revealed His Book to His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and used it to argue against his people. They were Arabs, neither philosophers nor speculative theologians. He argued against them only through what sound minds understand and sound natures grasp, what established knowledge bears out and familiar patterns of experience confirm. The proof thus established served to demonstrate the existence of the Maker and the world’s coming into being.”

He said: “The speculative theologians of our time insist on arguing exclusively from accidents, their inherence in substances, and the changes they undergo within them. They claim that no proof is stronger or sounder than this. Although we do not deny