teach them to anyone else. Everything that exists is a particular, not a universal. Thus, universals exist only in minds, not in external reality. If He knows none of the particulars, He knows nothing of existing things; it is therefore impossible for Him to impart to anyone else any knowledge of particular existing things.

Those among them who say, “He knows neither universals nor particulars,” hold an even more repugnant position.

Those who say, “He knows unchanging universals but not changing ones,” maintain that He knows nothing of events that come into being and imparts no knowledge of them to any of His creatures, just as their position entails that He did not create them. Thus, according to them, there is neither creation nor knowledge. This is the true substance of the position of their leading authority, Aristotle. He did not affirm that the Lord brought the world into being, nor did he regard Him as an efficient cause. Rather, he affirmed only that He is a final cause: the celestial sphere moves in imitation of Him, just as the beloved moves the lover. He explicitly stated that He does not know things. Thus, in his view, there is neither creation nor knowledge. Yet the first revelation Allah sent down to His Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was:

“Read in the name of your Lord who created.”
“Created man from a clinging substance.”
“Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous.”
“Who taught by the pen.”
“Taught man what he did not know.”

The fourteenth argument:

Allah, Most High, sent the messengers and revealed the Books to call creation to worship Him alone, without partner. This entails His knowledge of the creatures He has brought into being—the observable, existing creatures: the heavens, the earth, and everything between them. He therefore declared in the Book—no Book has come from Him