Nonexistent things are sometimes attributed to the absence of their maker, and sometimes to the presence of something that prevents them. These evils that consist in absence cannot be attributed to Him in either of these two ways.

As for the “first,” He is the manifest Truth, so it cannot be said that they are absent because their maker and that which would bring them about are absent. As for the “second”—the presence of an impediment—an impediment is only needed when a cause conducive to the outcome exists. Had He willed to bring them about, no impediment could have prevented Him. He—glorified is He—does not prevent Himself from doing what He wills. Rather, He does whatever He wills.

Allah may, however, create something as a cause, a factor conducive to an outcome, or an impediment. If He makes the cause complete, nothing prevents it; if He does not make it complete, an impediment obstructs it because of the cause’s weakness and the absence of Allah’s assistance to it. Thus, nothing fails to exist except because He has not willed it, just as nothing exists except because He wills it.

These ills that consist in absence are attributed to the servant sometimes because the cause is absent on his part, and sometimes because an impediment exists on his part. The absence of the cause is clear: no strength, power, good, or cause of good originates independently from him. If anything did originate from him, it would constitute a cause. Thus, the absence is attributed to him because the cause is absent. Moreover, he has performed acts for which he was a cause through Allah’s assistance to him; whatever has not proceeded from him is therefore due to the absence of the cause.