the religious communities, as well as by the leading philosophers. However, the philosophers claim that the celestial spheres have existed eternally and that their motions have neither beginning nor end. This is disbelief that contradicts the religion of the Messengers, and it is invalid according to clear reason.

Likewise, the claim that the Lord was once unable to speak or act by His will, but then became able to speak and act by His will—as maintained by the Jahmiyyah, the Qadariyyah, and those speculative theologians who agree with them—is false. It is this claim that has caused confusion in this matter among heretical philosophers and innovators among speculative theologians.

These matters are discussed at length in their proper place. These are questions of great importance, whose worth is appreciated only by those familiar with people’s doctrines and the difficulties entailed by each position—difficulties that have plunged many of the foremost speculative thinkers into oceans of doubt and uncertainty. They are discussed at length elsewhere.