for they affirm a necessitating cause with an essence divested of attributes, one that necessarily entails its effects, so that nothing can come after it. They also ascribe to Him a kind of unity that they take to entail the denial of His attributes and of His acts that subsist in Him.

They say:

“From one, only one can proceed.”

Yet the “one” they claim exists only in the mind, not in external reality.

Their doctrines and their refutation are discussed at length elsewhere. We have shown that they are the most contradictory and inconsistent of people, and that their claim that He is a cause that necessarily entails its effect (1), from pre-eternity and for all eternity, is false for many reasons.

If, however, it is said that He acts necessarily by virtue of His essence—meaning that, through His will and power, He necessarily brings about whatever He wills to do—then this simply means that He is an agent who acts through His power and will. Calling the One thus described “one who acts necessarily by virtue of His essence” is merely a terminological dispute.

Most of the Jahmiyya and Qadariyya do not say that His power and will necessarily entail the existence of what He has power over. Rather, it may occur or it may not; thus, if it occurs, He gives it preponderance (2) without any preponderating factor.

These matters are discussed at length elsewhere. The point here is that the Jahmiyya affirm a prophethood that does not entail any distinction or perfection in its possessor, nor that he is ever uniquely endowed with any attribute of perfection. Rather, according to them, someone who is among the most ignorant (3) of people may be made a prophet.

According to the pure Jahmiyya, Allah creates speech in something other than Himself, and the angel then descends with it. As for the Kullābiyya, prophethood, in their view, consists in the relation of the meaning subsisting in the Essence to the prophet, conveying the meaning: “You are My servant and My messenger.” Thus, regarding prophethood, they make a claim of the same kind as what they say concerning