until the other makes him so,
(1 nor would this one be living, knowing, and powerful until the other makes him so 1)
(1); thus, neither of them would be living, knowing, and powerful until after he had made the one who made him living, knowing, and powerful [living, knowing, and powerful] (2). Nor would he be living, knowing, and powerful [until after he had already been alive, endowed with knowledge, and powerful] (3), with two stages intervening.

The impossibility of all this is known by plain reason. It belongs to those necessary truths over which rational people do not disagree. This is a case of circular dependence involving priority: circularity among causes, agents, and effectors. It is impossible by the agreement of all rational people, unlike the circularity of two mutually concomitant things, where this cannot exist except together with that (4 nor can that exist except together with this 4) (4). This is possible, whether neither has an agent—as with the attributes [of Allah] (5)—or whether both are effects whose complete cause is something other than themselves.

This is possible (6), for Allah creates together two things, neither of which can exist except together with the other, such as fatherhood and sonship. When Allah creates a child, His very act of creating the child makes the one a father and the other a son. Neither of these two attributes precedes the other or exists apart from it. This differs from the case in which one of two things constitutes part of what makes the cause operating upon the other complete, for that is impossible. An effect occurs only through a complete cause. Thus, if the completeness of this cause were derived from