in itself and necessarily entails its inseparable attributes, without which it cannot exist. The attributes of a thing are not its constituent parts or portions, distinct from one another or from the thing itself, such that it could properly be said to be composed of them or not composed of them. Affirming or denying composition presupposes a conception of it, and no such conception applies here.

The second answer is that, even supposing this were called composite, it would entail neither contingency nor origination. For what is known through reason and revelation is that it is impossible for the Lord, Most High, to depend upon His creation. Rather, He has no need of any of the worlds. It is known that He is Ever-Living and Self-Subsisting, that His holy Self subsists in itself and exists in its own right, and that He is One, the Self-Sufficient Master, needing nothing beyond Himself. His existence and self-sufficiency are not derived from another. Rather, He has always been and will always remain, in Himself, the True One, the Self-Sufficient Master, the Self-Subsisting Sustainer. Could it therefore be said that He depends upon Himself or needs Himself because His Self subsists only in Himself? What is said of His “attributes,” which are included in what is meant by His Self, is the same as what is said of His Self.

Thus, if it is said that His attributes are essential to Him, and that He needs them, this is equivalent to saying that He needs Himself, for His essential attributes are those without which His Self cannot be.

Likewise, if we say that His essence necessitates His existence, that He necessarily exists in Himself, or that He Himself entails the necessity of His existence, someone might object: “It follows that He is an effect, and an effect is dependent.” He would be answered: “The cause here is not something other than the effect. What is denied is His dependence upon another and His being the effect of anything besides Himself. As for His subsisting in Himself, that is true.”