doing nothing and saying nothing whatsoever. Rather, He alone existed, uttering no speech and performing no act. Then He brought into being His speech and the things He made that are separate from Him, and thus brought the world into being. They supposed that this was the meaning of what the messengers taught and the adherents of the religious communities agreed upon—namely, that everything other than Allah is created and that Allah is the Creator of everything. They also supposed that the opposing position was that of those who held that the world, or its matter, is eternal. Consequently, they mentioned only two positions in their works of speculative theology.

The first is the position of Muslims and other religious communities: that the world came into being—which, as they understood it, meant what was stated above.

The second is the position of the Dahriyyah, who say that the world is eternal. In their works on speculative theology and the doctrines of various schools, they came to report that all religious communities—Muslims, Jews, Christians, and others—held that Allah had, from eternity, neither done anything nor spoken anything, and then brought the world into being; whereas the Dahriyyah held that the world is eternal. The view commonly attributed to those who maintain the eternity of the world is that it has no Maker; thus, they deny the Maker, majestic is His glory. Writers on the doctrines of various schools have mentioned that the first philosopher to maintain the eternity of the world was Aristotle, the author of philosophical teachings on logic, natural philosophy, and metaphysics.

Yet Aristotle and his early followers affirm the First Cause in their books. They say that the celestial sphere moves in imitation of it, and that it is a cause of the sphere in this respect: were the one whom the sphere imitates not to exist, the sphere would not move, and its motion