the well-known principle.” Those imams of the Sunnah and hadith who affirm this principle—that He has always been able to speak by His will and power and to act by His will—allow this and affirm the possibility of temporally originated events having no beginning.

Thus, the arguments advanced by the leading “philosophers” for the eternity of the world do not establish the eternity of anything in the world. Rather, they establish only the principles upheld by the imams of the Sunnah and hadith who devote themselves to what the Messenger brought. The ultimate result of rigorously examining the rational arguments of speculative theologians and philosophical thinkers is thus to agree with, support, and serve what the messengers brought.

Those speculative theologians who do not affirm this, but instead maintain that the perpetual occurrence of temporally originated events is impossible, have no basis for distinguishing between His receptivity to them and His power over them. Among these theologians, those who say that He speaks by His will and power, with speech subsisting in His essence, hold a position closer to reason and revelation than those who say that His speech is created, or that eternal speech subsists in Him without His being able to speak by His power or His will.

Any position closer to reason and revelation deserves preference over positions further removed from them. And Allah Most High knows best.