and oppose it, neither can be the cause of the other. For an effect cannot oppose its cause, just as it cannot produce its cause. Likewise, a thing cannot be its own opposite or produce itself. Its being opposed to itself would entail its existence depending on its own existence, making it both existent and nonexistent. Its producing itself, given that a cause precedes its effect, would likewise entail its being both existent and nonexistent.

It is known that if the events and motions arising from the powers of bodies do not originate from the “ninth sphere,” and it imparts to them only accidental motion, then there is all the more reason that the bodies themselves and their powers should not originate from it. This establishes that the mover of the spheres and other observable bodies, and the originator of these bodies through another cause, is a Lord distinct from them. He is the One who originated them in their different forms and set them in motion with their different motions. This is what was to be established.

Moreover, even if these heavenly bodies form part of the cause of certain events, they do so only in some circumstances, not others. When they appear above the earth, their light and influence become manifest; when they set, their light and influence cease. They then cease to be either a cause or part of a cause. This is why Allah’s intimate friend, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“I do not love those that set.”

When they set, their influence upon us ceases altogether, leaving no semblance of a justification on which anyone attached to them can rely. The Lord who is invoked and asked, in whom hope and trust are placed, must be the self-subsisting Sustainer who sustains His servant at all times and in every circumstance. As He said:

“And put your trust in the Ever-Living, who does not die.”

And He said:

“Allah—there is no deity worthy of worship except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all existence.”

Thus this and other forms of