is an act, not an act of creation.” And we accept “an infinite regress.” For the impossible kind of regress is the simultaneous existence of the members of an infinite series: a creator of the creator, and a creator of that creator; or an act of creation having another act of creation, which in turn has another act of creation, all at the same instant.

This is impossible for several reasons. One is the existence of an infinite number of things at a single instant, which is absolutely impossible. Another is that everything mentioned would be “brought into being,” not “contingent,” with nothing among them existing through itself to terminate the regress. In that case, it is all the more impossible.

This differs from saying, “Before this speech there was speech, and before this act there was an act.” This is possible according to most rational thinkers, including the leading authorities of the Sunnah, the leading philosophers, and others. Thus, to say, “He brought this newly occurring speech into being within Himself,” is intelligible. It is equivalent to our saying, “He spoke it.” This is the meaning of His words:

“Indeed, We have made it an Arabic Quran.”

That is, We spoke it in Arabic and sent it down in Arabic.

This is also how the early generations explained it, including Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh, who related from Mujāhid that he explained “We have made it an Arabic Quran” as “We uttered it in Arabic.” Ibn Abī Hātim cited this in his commentary on the Quran, reporting that Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh said: “It was related to us from Mujāhid and other Successors that ‘Indeed, We have made it an Arabic Quran’ means ‘Indeed, We uttered it and described it.’” He also cited it