that they were created from their fathers and mothers. Furthermore, their acknowledgment of this neither entails faith nor precludes disbelief. The question is rhetorical, expressing denial and intended to elicit their acknowledgment that they were not created by nothing. If they acknowledge that a Creator created them, this benefits them. But if they merely acknowledge that they were created from matter, this avails them nothing before Allah.

The fifteenth argument:

To acknowledge that Allah has always done whatever He wills and spoken whatever He wills is to ascribe to Him the perfection befitting Him. Anything contrary to this is a deficiency that must be denied of Him. For the claim that He was once unable to speak or act and then became able—even though ability is an attribute of His—implies that He previously lacked the attribute of power, which is inseparable from His essence and is among the clearest attributes of perfection. This is rationally impossible, as established by conclusive proof.

If He was not capable and then became capable, there must have been something that made Him capable after He had not been so. If there was nothing but sheer nonexistence, it would be impossible for Him to become capable after not having been so. Likewise, it is impossible for Him to become knowing after previously not having been so. This is unlike the human being, who was neither knowing nor capable, and whom another then made knowing and capable.

The same applies when they say, “He did not speak, then became one who speaks.” This is among the objections Imam Ahmad raised against the Jahmiyyah, since they held that He did not speak and then became one who speaks. They said, “Like a human being.” He replied, “You have thus combined likening Allah to His creation with disbelief.” I have quoted his words elsewhere.