Thus, to say that someone “created” necessarily means that he originated something according to a determined measure. Since He—glorified and exalted is He—originated all things from nothing and assigned everything its measure, creation may rightly be attributed to Him without qualification. A created thing necessarily has a determined measure, for this means delimiting and circumscribing it, which necessarily applies to everything that exists. This is contrary to the claim of those who suppose that creation applies to ... (1) things possessing spatial dimensions, namely bodies, thereby distinguishing creation from command. This is a false, innovated view. Command is His speech, as the early scholars explained it, and creation is explained ... (2) makes creation correspond to originating mental forms and determining their measure. This includes calling ... (3) “difference,” since it consists of mental forms with no reality outside the mind; and ... (4) taking creation to mean determining measure alone, disregarding origination, on the basis of the saying ... (5) “In vain is what you have fashioned.” Likewise, ‘Alī said of a figure he had made, “I created it.” The distinction ... (6) the first, insofar as that form is newly originated, would be a statement ... (7) is none but Allah, glorified and exalted is He. It is therefore correct to describe Him, glorified is He, as the Creator of all things.

As for acquisition, we have mentioned that what is considered is its effect upon the subject in which it occurs, even if that subject has no power over it. Thus, one may even say that a garment has acquired something of musk’s fragrance; a mosque has acquired sanctity through the acts of worshippers; leather has acquired sanctity through its proximity to the Quran; and a fruit has acquired colour, fragrance, and flavour. Thus, any subject affected by something that exerts an influence, whether agreeable or disagreeable, may properly be described as acquiring, on account of its being affected, changed, and transformed