the Lord of the worlds. Being free of any partner in His acts and their effects is likewise exclusive to the Lord of the worlds. Nothing among created things independently produces any effect; none by itself constitutes an independently operative cause; and none can dispense with a partner in producing any effect. Rather, nothing in the world comes into existence through any cause without another cause acting together with it.

Thus, even if it is called a cause, it is a cause conducive to an effect—a contributing cause—not a complete cause. Each of the two is a condition for the other. Likewise, every cause in the world has an impediment that prevents it from acting. Everything within creation that is called a cause, a causal factor, an entity possessing power, an agent, or a governor therefore has a partner that serves as a condition for it, and an opposing factor that acts as an impediment and an opposite. He, glorified be He, has said:

“And of all things We created two mates.”

A member of a pair may be a similar counterpart or a contrasting opposite—a peer. Thus, every created thing has a partner and a peer. The Lord alone, glorified be He, has neither partner nor peer. Whatever He wills comes to be, and whatever He does not will does not come to be.

For this reason, no one else deserves to be called Creator or Lord without qualification, or anything similar, for such a designation entails independently and exclusively bringing about the effect produced. This belongs to none but Allah alone.

Accordingly, although some people have disputed whether a cause can possess multiple attributes, claiming that a cause can possess only one attribute, most people have disagreed with them and said that it may possess multiple attributes. Indeed, it has even been said that among created things there is no