As for the fourth premise, namely their statement, “An act of creation that originates in time requires another act of creation,” this is disputed by the great majority of those who affirm an act of creation originating in time among scholars of hadith, speculative theology, philosophy, jurisprudence and Sufism, and others. These include Abū Muʿādh al-Tūmanī, Zuhayr al-Ibarī, the Hishāmiyya, the Karrāmiyya, Dāwūd ibn ʿAlī al-Asbahānī and his followers, and the scholars of hadith and early generations mentioned by al-Bukhārī and others.

They say: “If He creates the heavens and the earth through an act of creation, it does not follow that this act of creation must require another act of creation. Rather, that act of creation comes about through His power and will, even though it originates in time.”

The proof that the consequence they seek to impose is invalid is that either power and will suffice to bring about something that originates in time, or they do not. If they do not suffice, their claim that created things come into existence through power and will alone, without an act of creation, is invalidated. Once their claim is invalidated, it becomes clear that a created thing must have a Creator who created it—which is precisely the point to be established.

If power and will suffice to bring a created thing into existence, then this act of creation, through which He creates created things, may likewise come about through power and will, without requiring another act of creation. Thus, on either supposition, it is not necessary to say, “Created things were created without an act of creation.” Rather, one may say, “They were created through an act of creation”—which is precisely the point to be established.

It also becomes clear that the proponents of negation never advance an argument based on a premise without having contradicted that premise elsewhere. Thus, all the premises of their argument are contradicted.

Moreover, it is rationally evident that an effect, separate from the agent who produces it, can only come about