If they say it is a Necessary Being, they have admitted what we stand upon, and the proof is established against them; and if they say it is a contingent being (mumkin), it requires that for that cause there be another cause, and for the other a prior cause, to infinity—which the intellect rules as invalid, since generation (al-huduth) is an attribute of the contingent.

And if they say that these elements gathered by themselves without any other influential factor, we say to them that this has never been and will never be, since they are not sensitive and perceiving things wherein the instruments and factors of life are present, so that one of them is able to move whenever it pleases and rest wherever it desires. Then we ask them: Are these elements ignorant or rational?

Are they eternal or generated? If they say they are ignorant, we say that the ignorant cannot be judged to possess absolute knowledge. And if they say they possess intellect, we say to them: This is evidence of the straying of intellect from them, for we have previously proved their lack of rationality and perception.