in his Ishārāt (1), equating afūl with possibility, deeming every possible entity one that sets, and holding that afūl is a fall into the realm of possibility (2). This entails that everything other than Allah is subject to afūl (3).

It is well known that this is among the most egregious fabrications against the Arabic language and the Quran, and among the gravest forms of Qarmatian distortion. If every possible entity were subject to afūl, the following statement would make no sense:

{When night enveloped him, he saw a star. He said, “This is my Lord.” But when it set, he said, “I do not love those that set.”}

The words:

{But when it set}

indicate that its afūl occurred at that point. According to these fabricators against the Arabic language and the Quran, however, afūl is inseparable from it: it has always been and will always remain subject to afūl (4). If Abraham had intended possibility by afūl, while possibility applies to the sun, moon, and star at every moment, he would have had no need to wait for them to set.

Moreover, deeming that which is pre-eternal, beginningless, and necessary [through another] (5) to be possible from all eternity and forever is a position held only by Ibn Sīnā and those who followed him (6). It is a position (7) contrary to that of the majority of rational thinkers, earlier and later (8).