of the spirit into it, is more perfect than a stone. He, exalted is He, has said:

“You were dead, and He gave you life.”

Thus, the fetus can, in the ordinary course of things, become alive and speak in a way that a person can hear through ordinary hearing. It is therefore more perfect than stone and earth.

They may also be told: The Lord of all worlds is either capable of possessing life, knowledge, and similar attributes, or He is not. If He were incapable of possessing them and did not possess them, He would be inferior to someone blind, deaf, and mute. If He were capable of possessing them but did not possess them, whatever possessed them would be more perfect than He. Thus, they have placed Him below human beings and beasts.

The same argument may be put to them regarding the various acts that subsist in Him, such as coming, arriving, and descending, and regarding movement in general: He is either capable of this or He is not. If He were incapable of it, bodies capable of movement, even when not moving, would be more perfect than He. If He were capable of it but did not do it, whatever moved would be more perfect than He. For movement is a perfection in that which moves. It is known that one who can move by himself is more perfect than one who cannot move, and that whatever is capable of movement is more perfect than whatever is incapable of it.

The principal argument of those who deny this is that, if He were capable of movement, He would never be devoid of it, which would entail the existence of an endless succession of events. They then claimed that this is impossible, yet denying it entails deficiencies without end. Those who affirm it say: “This is perfection itself.”

As the early generations said: “Allah has always spoken whenever He wills.” This was stated by Ibn al-Mubārak, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and others. Al-Bukhārī also related that Nuʿaym ibn Hammād said: “A living being is one who acts; whatever does not act is not alive.” It has already been established