Allah Most High has always been described by attributes of perfection: [He has always been] (1) speaking whenever He wills and able to act. There is no act or effect that is not a specific originated thing (2), for every [specific] (3) act must be preceded by its own nonexistence. Otherwise, if (4) the agent were assumed to necessitate by virtue of his essence, his effect would necessarily accompany him and nothing new could proceed from him—a claim that flies in the face of sensory perception. If the agent were assumed not to necessitate by virtue of his essence, no effect would coexist with him (5)—even though he acts perpetually, since the genus of action is a necessary concomitant of his essence.

As for specific acts and effects, they are not necessary concomitants of the essence. Rather, each depends upon what precedes it, since originated events cannot all occur at a single time. An act that can only be originated cannot occur all at once, much less can each of its parts be beginningless; rather, it comes into existence one part at a time.

As for an act that can only be eternal, that is intrinsically impossible in the first place. A specific act and its effect (6) coexisting with the agent are impossible; consequently, no originated event can arise through such an act, because if the eternal act is assumed to be a complete act, it necessarily entails (7) its effect.

We have discussed these points at length elsewhere (8) and explained—