they have existed from beginningless eternity. For if they did not exist, their existence would be impossible, since in beginningless eternity there is nothing besides Himself to necessitate their existence. If they are possible, and He Himself is their fully sufficient cause, their existence from beginningless eternity must be necessary.

This is among the things demonstrating that He has always been living, knowing, powerful, willing, speaking, and acting, since nothing but His essence necessitates these things, and His essence alone suffices for them. It follows that the kind has no beginning and that He has always spoken whenever He wills. Individual instances of the kind, however, occur successively, in accordance with possibility and wisdom.

For this reason, it has been explained elsewhere that, in reality, no possible thing has its existence and nonexistence equally balanced. Rather, either what necessitates its existence is present, making its existence necessary, or it is absent, making its existence impossible. Whatever attributes the Lord possesses, His possession of them is necessary; whatever attributes He does not possess, His possession of them is impossible. Whatever He wills comes to be, and its existence is necessary; whatever He does not will does not come to be, and its existence is impossible. Thus, a possible thing necessarily exists when the fully sufficient determining factor is present, and its existence is impossible without it.

His words, exalted is He,

“Read in the name of your Lord who created—created man from a clinging substance,”

and His words,

“Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous, who taught by the pen,”

demonstrate that He possesses the attributes of perfection and has always possessed them. The statements of the early generations concerning this are numerous. This is how they explained His words, “And Allah has always been