Thus, He, glorified be He, has explained how He creates rain and sends it down upon the earth, for it is a cause of life on earth. He, glorified be He, made every living thing from water. Then He said:
“Allah alternates the night and the day.”
His alternating the night and the day changes the conditions of the world through the sending down of rain, which is a cause of the creation of plants, animals, and minerals. This, in turn, changes people’s circumstances, raising some and lowering others.
He, glorified be He, has stated in several places that He created time, as in His words:
“And made the darkness and the light.”
And His words:
“And He is the One who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon, each floating in an orbit.”
And His words:
“And He is the One who made the night and the day succeed one another, for whoever wishes to take heed or wishes to give thanks.”
And His words:
“Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for people of understanding.”
There are other scriptural texts, too, which make clear that He is the Creator of time. No rational person would imagine that Allah is time itself, for time is the measure of motion. As for motion, its measure belongs to the category of accidents and attributes that subsist in something else, such as motion and rest, blackness and whiteness.
No rational person would say that the Creator of the world belongs to the category of accidents and attributes that depend upon substances and concrete entities. Accidents do not subsist by themselves; rather, they require a subject in which to subsist. Whatever depends upon something other than itself does not exist independently, but through that other thing. It therefore depends upon something other than itself for its very existence. How, then, could it be the Creator?
Furthermore, being self-sufficient, with everything else dependent upon Him, is the attribute of the Creator, glorified be He. How, then, can He be imagined to belong to the former category?