whatever is subject to His will is also subject to His power, for whatever Allah wills comes to pass, and nothing comes into being except through His power. Likewise, whatever exists through His power is also subject to His will, for nothing comes into being except through His power and will. Whatever can be subject to His power can also be subject to His will, and vice versa; whatever cannot be subject to one cannot be subject to the other. Hence His saying:

“Indeed, Allah has power over all things.”

The word shay’ (thing) was originally the verbal noun of shā’a, yashā’u, shay’an (to will), just as naylan is the verbal noun of nāla, yanālu (to obtain). The verbal noun was then used in place of the object: what is willed was called a shay’, just as what is obtained is called nayl. Thus they speak of nayl al-ma‘din (the yield of a mine). Similarly, what is brought about by power is called qudra (power), and what is created is called khalq (creation). Thus His saying:

“has power over all things”

means that He has power over everything He wills. This includes what He has willed and has therefore come into existence, and what He has not willed but which is an object of will in knowledge, in the sense that it is capable of being willed. His words:

“over all things”

include whatever is a thing both in external reality and in knowledge, or in knowledge alone. This excludes what cannot be subject to the will—namely, the Most High, the True One, and His attributes, or what is intrinsically impossible. None of these falls within the general scope of the statement.

For this reason, people have agreed that what is intrinsically impossible is not a thing, but they have disagreed concerning what does not exist yet could exist. A group of speculative theologians among the Mu‘tazila and the Rāfida, together with some misguided Sufis who agreed with them, held that it is a thing in external reality because will and power relate to it. This is an error. It is merely known to Allah and, if it is among the things that will come into existence, willed by Him. In itself, it has neither death nor existence nor any reality whatsoever. Rather, its existence, its established being, and its actuality are one and the same. Its essence and reality in the external world are identical with its existence, actuality, and established being; there are not in