Sound reason clearly establishes that if one who is capable of acting neither wills an act nor performs it, and then comes to will and perform it, something must have occurred to bring this about. The discussion here concerns two issues.

The first concerns action and speech in general: did He begin acting and speaking by His will after not having done so, or has He always acted and spoken by His will? This is discussed at length under the questions of divine speech and actions, in connection with the Quran and the world's coming into existence.

The second concerns willing and performing a particular act, as in His words, Most High:

“His command, when He wills a thing, is only to say to it, ‘Be,’ and it is.”

And His words:

“So your Lord willed that they should reach maturity and recover their treasure.”

And His words:

“When We will to destroy a town, We command its affluent inhabitants, but they transgress within it; then the sentence against it becomes justified, and We destroy it utterly.”

And His words:

“When Allah wills harm for a people, there is no averting it.”

And His words:

“If Allah touches you with harm, none can remove it except Him; and if He wills good for you, none can repel His bounty.”

And His words:

“Say, ‘Have you considered those you invoke besides Allah? If Allah willed harm for me, could they remove His harm? Or if He willed mercy for me, could they withhold His mercy?’”

When He, glorified be He, wills any such thing, people hold various views concerning this.

It has been said that the will is single, eternal, and beginningless, and that only its relation to what is willed is renewed