accidents without qualification—is that which inheres in something else, such as life, knowledge, power, motion, rest, and the like.

Others say: “It is that which does not persist for two successive moments.” They say: “The Creator’s attributes endure, unlike the attributes inhering in created beings, which do not persist for two successive moments.”

The point here is that the claim, “If knowledge and power inhered in Him, it would be an accident; and whatever has an accident inhering in it has afflictions inhering in it,” involves equivocation, for one of its two premises is false. If the term “accident” means an attribute, the second premise is false; if it means an illness or the like that befalls a person, the first premise is false.

A parallel example would be someone saying:

“If He had risen over the Throne, He would have brought about something new, and temporally originated events would inhere in Him. For rising over the Throne is a temporally originated act—one that came to be after not having been. Thus, if rising over the Throne inhered in Him, temporally originated events would inhere in Him; and anyone in whom such events inhere has brought about something new. Yet Allah Most High is far above that, because the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

‘May Allah curse whoever commits an offence or shelters an offender.’

And he said:

‘Beware of newly introduced matters, for every innovation is misguidance.’”

The reply is:

In ordinary language, “temporally originated” means that which comes to be after not having been. Allah Most High does whatever He wills, and every act He performs comes to be after not having been.