since the effect of a complete cause, which entails all the conditions of causation, cannot lag behind it; if it did, the cause would not be complete. Thus, the existence of the effect necessarily entails the existence of its complete cause, and the existence of the complete cause necessarily entails the existence of its effect. Hence, there is no complete cause from eternity, and nothing among Allah’s creatures is eternal alongside Him, sharing His eternity. Past eternity is neither a fixed boundary nor a particular moment. Rather, whatever ultimate limit the mind may conceive, past eternity lies before it, just as it lies before whatever else the mind has conceived. Past eternity has no beginning, just as future eternity has no end.

An authentic hadith relates that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to say:

“You are the First, and nothing is before You; You are the Last, and nothing is after You.”

If it were said that He is the complete cause of anything from eternity, it would follow that this thing has always coexisted with Him. That, however, is incompatible with its being something He has produced. Such a statement is valid only regarding an attribute inseparable from the one possessing it. For if one says, “The essence fully necessitates the attribute,” this means that the essence necessarily entails the attribute—not that the essence originates it. Once the meaning of an originator is understood, clear reason rules out its originating something that has always coexisted with it, whether it is called an efficient cause, a creator, or something else.

It would also be impossible for any temporal event to occur within the effect, because no temporal event comes into existence unless its complete cause exists at the time it comes into existence. Although the cause itself may have existed beforehand, all the conditions of causation must be fully present when the effect comes into existence