movement is inseparable from life, so life cannot exist without any movement at all, as al-Dārimī and others maintain.

Al-Tha‘labī narrated in his Tafsīr, through his chain of transmission, that Ja‘far ibn Muhammad al-Sādiq, may Allah be pleased with him, was asked concerning Allah’s words, “Did you think that We created you in vain?”: “Why did Allah create creation?” He replied:

“Because Allah has always been beneficent, from eternity and for all eternity. Allah therefore willed to bestow His beneficence upon His creation, though He had no need of them. He did not create them to gain any benefit or avert any harm. Rather, He created them, treated them with goodness, and sent messengers to them so that they might distinguish truth from falsehood. Whoever does good, He rewards with Paradise; and whoever disobeys, He recompenses with the Fire.”

Regarding Allah’s words, “And Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful,” “And Allah is ever All-Knowing, All-Wise,” and similar expressions, Ibn ‘Abbās, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “He was so, has always been so, and will always remain so.”

This premise is also rejected by the majority of philosophers. The Jahmiyyah, Mu‘tazilah, Kullābiyyah, and Karrāmiyyah, however, maintain that the perpetual succession of temporal occurrences is impossible. This is one of the major principles underlying discussion of Allah’s speech and His creation. This position is the foundation of the speculative theology introduced into Islam that the early generations and leading scholars condemned.

For the adherents of this speculative theology among the Jahmiyyah, Mu‘tazilah, and their followers thought that Allah’s being the Creator of everything—as indicated by the Quran and Sunnah and agreed upon by the adherents of religious communities, including Muslims, Jews, Christians, and others—meant that He, glorified and exalted be He, had always been inactive