“For glass is made from sand, pebbles, and the like.” They thus draw an analogy between this and what they produce through alchemy. This argument is invalid. For Allah, glorified and exalted be He, creates glass for people neither in mineral deposits nor elsewhere; rather, glass belongs to the category of manufactured things, like bricks, pottery, and similar things fired in a furnace.

It has already been explained that Allah, glorified and exalted be He, has given human beings the ability to make various kinds of food, clothing, and dwellings. Likewise, He has given them the ability to manufacture vessels of pottery, glass, and similar materials. Yet He has provided them with no means of making the like of what He has created.

Once it becomes clear that glass belongs to the category of manufactured things rather than naturally created things, and offers no instance in which the manufactured might be confused with the naturally created, the argument for alchemy collapses. For human beings cannot manufacture the like of the fundamental things Allah has created, nor can they transform one created kind of animal, plant, or mineral into another created kind. This holds invariably, without exception. And Allah knows best.

He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

About a man who sold property and real estate that subsequently proved to belong to someone else: Is the purchaser to be credited with the purchase price against the rent due for the property, if it has a rental value? And does entitlement to