and similar forms of inference in which an attribute serves as evidence for a judgment. No one says that nonexistence itself brings about existence, nor that the existent and nonexistent elements of a composite attribute jointly bring about pure existence. The conditions of a cause are themselves among the components of the complete cause.

If that which makes vision possible, allows something to be seen, and distinguishes what can be seen from what cannot is purely existent, we need not identify it precisely. It makes no difference whether it is said to be existence as such, self-subsistence, subsistence in a concrete entity subject to facing and alignment, or anything else whose presence is said to make vision possible and whose absence makes it impossible. The point, however, is that these are positive realities.

Since this is so, it is known that Allah Most High has a greater claim to existence and its perfection than any other existent being. His existence is necessary existence, and the existence of everything besides Him derives from His existence. He possesses complete perfection in all purely positive realities, for these are the attributes that constitute the perfection of existence. Thus, Allah—to whom belongs the highest description—is all the more capable of being seen because of the perfection of His existence. Yet we have not seen Him in this world because of our inability and weakness, just as we cannot stare into the sun’s rays—indeed, just as