One of these is that the Quran establishes the existence of the Maker through His signs themselves: knowledge of them necessarily entails knowledge of Him, just as knowledge of sunlight entails knowledge of the sun. There is no need for a universal syllogism stating, “Whatever comes into being must have something that brings it into being,” or “Every contingent being must have a determining cause,” or “Every motion must have a final or an efficient cause.”

Nor is there any need to ask whether the reason for dependence on the Maker is temporal origination alone—as the Muʿtazilah maintain—or contingency—as the majority maintain. They then infer that the latter is an enduring state dependent on the Maker, according to the second, correct view, but not the first.

I have discussed this matter at length elsewhere and explained the truth: created entities themselves depend on the Maker, and their dependence upon Him and need for Him are intrinsic attributes of these created beings, just as self-sufficiency is an intrinsic attribute of the Lord, the Creator. This dependence has no cause other than their very essence and actual being, just as His self-sufficiency has no cause other than His very essence.

You may therefore say that there is no cause for their dependence or His self-sufficiency, since not everything has a cause. Just as there is no cause for His existence and self-sufficiency, there is no cause for their nonexistence when He does not will them to exist, nor for their dependence upon Him when He does will them to exist. Or, if you prefer, you may say that the cause of this dependence and this self-sufficiency is the essence itself and the very reality.

This is demonstrated by the fact that a person knows his own dependence and need for his Creator without it occurring to him that he is contingent—a contingent being being one that admits of both existence and nonexistence—or that he has come into being—a being that has come into being being one whose existence was preceded by nonexistence. Indeed, he may be uncertain whether he has existed from eternity, or may believe that he has, while knowing his dependence and need for his Creator. Thus, if the only cause of dependence on the Maker were contingency or