whereas the sun is (1) a more remote cause, and more remote than the sun is the inclined celestial sphere. These things are not causes by way of being the element of the generated thing, or (2) by way of being a form, nor by way of being a privation. Rather, they are merely movers. They are movers not because they correspond (3) in form and are proximate, like the father; rather, they are more remote and more powerful in action, since they are themselves also the origin of the proximate causes (4)). He also cited another passage, but this is not the place to expound it at length.

[The Second Proof and Its Refutation]

Al-Rāzī then stated:

(The second proof (5): The act could have existed in pre-eternity, for three reasons:

The first: Had [this not been so], it would have been impossible and then become possible. What was impossible (6) in itself would thereby have become possible in itself (7), and this would remove certainty (8) from rational propositions (9).