of anything other than Himself, or that He should eternally lack a perfection that could exist eternally, such as life and knowledge. Since He is the One who has power over and brings about all things, He is in no respect in need of anything else. Rather, any causes that are brought about are themselves subject to His power and will. Allah Most High inspires His servants to supplicate and answers them; He inspires them to repent and rejoices at their repentance when they repent; and He inspires them to perform deeds and rewards them when they do.

It is not said that the creature affected the Creator (1), or (2) caused Him to respond (3), reward, and rejoice [at their repentance] (4), for He—Glorified is He—is the Creator of all of this. His is the dominion and His is all praise; He has no partner in any of it, nor does He need anything other than Himself for it. The fact that originated events which can exist only successively did not exist eternally constitutes no imperfection.

They say (5): As for their assertion, “This entails originated events subsisting in Him” (6), the reply is:

First, this is the position of some of the foremost authorities among the Mu'tazila and the Shia (7)—such as Hishām ibn al-Hakam, Abū al-Husayn al-Basrī, and their followers—and it necessarily follows from the positions of all the others as well. The later Shia follow the Basran Mu'tazila (8) in this matter. Both they and the Basran Mu'tazila say that He came to perceive after not having perceived, (* because