Sufism,” identifying it as the doctrine of the Sufis. It is also the well-known position of the Hanafis. Some writers on “speculative theology,” such as al-Rāzī and others, frame the disagreement on this issue as a dispute with the Hanafis, leading readers to suppose that this view is peculiar to them. Yet it is the position of all the early generations and the great majority of the various groups. It is also the position of the majority of Ahmad’s followers—all the earlier ones and most of the later ones—and one of the two views held by al-Qādī Abū Ya‘lā.

Likewise, it is the position of the leading Mālikīs, Shāfi‘īs and scholars of hadith, and of most speculative theologians—such as the Hishāmiyya—or many of them; of all the Karrāmiyya; of some of the Mu‘tazila; and of many leading philosophers, both early and later.

Other speculative theologians—the Jahmiyya, most of the Mu‘tazila and the Ash‘arīs—held that the act of creation is identical with the created thing itself. According to them, Allah’s making, acting, creating and originating are nothing other than the created things themselves. This is also the position of a group of later philosophers—if they affirm that the Lord is an originator—such as Ibn Sīnā and others like him.

The well-known argument of these speculative theologians is that, if He created things through an act of creation, that act must be either eternal or originated in time. If it were eternal, every created thing would necessarily be eternal, which is a denial of the obvious. If it originated in time and subsisted in the Lord, this would entail that events originating in time subsist in Him. If it did not subsist in Him, the act of creation would subsist in something other than the Creator, which is impossible. Whether it subsisted in Him or not, that act of creation would require another act of creation, entailing an infinite regress. This is their principal argument.

The early generations and the majority answer this argument by rejecting its premises, each group rejecting a particular premise. They thereby confront its proponents with an objection from which they have no escape.