For if they say the first, they have admitted the Maker; and if they say the second, they have stated the impossible—because a thing cannot be a cause and an effect at one and the same time; and if they say the third, they have judged themselves with the utmost ignorance—because the likes of these elements, which are neither rational nor perceiving, cannot exist except by means of a rational, Necessary Cause (Wajib al-Wujud). And it is neither rational nor acceptable that blind coincidence should bring forth the likes of this clear-sighted universe, which is regulated in its composition and arrangement.

The blind is the one who is led, not the one who leads; and his leadership (if we grant him the attribute of leadership), if it must happen, only drags to the abyss, such that he does not see the path.

Then we ask them: Did these elements influence their effects—according to your claim—individually or collectively? If they say they influenced individually, we say to them: Reality and truth accuse you of lying regarding that, since there is nothing attributed to life that subsists by itself unless these elements are fully present within it collectively. And if they say they influenced collectively, we ask them: What gathered them? If they say they gathered by means of another cause, we answer them: We have caught you by your admission of the necessity of a primary cause influencing these elements.

And there follows from this answer of theirs another question that we cast upon them, which is: Is this other cause, by means of which those elements were gathered, a Necessary Being? Meaning, is its existence essential (dhati), or was it the result of a prior, influential first cause?