Aslam

A new thing cannot come into existence without a cause.
The would is an originated new thing and it did not come into existence without a cause. That a thing cannot come into existence without a cause is clear, for such a thing belongs to a certain definite time and it also comes to our intellect that it comes at a fixed time without precedence or subsequence, because of the urgency of its fixed time. The world is a new or orginated thing. Its proof is found in the fact that it is not free from motion and rest which are the characteritics of every new material thing. Even motion and rest are two new orignated things not free from changes. The world and whatever exists in it are originated things. There are three matters in this argument. Firstly, a body is not free from motion and rest. It requires no meditation. Secondly, motion and rest themselves are originated things. Its proof is that one comes after another.
It is found in all bodies. What is static can move and what is moving can become static according to the dictates of intellect.
If any of the above two things is predominant over the body, it becomes a new event. A new thing is originated because of its emergence an old thing is distant because of its extinction. If the eternity of a thing is established, its extinction is impossible as we shall prove it by the subsistence of the creation. Thirdly, what is not free from changes is an originated or new thing or whatever is not indepedent of originated things is itself originated. Its proof is that if it were not so, the world before every new thing may change which has got no beginning and unless these new things come to nought, the turn for the-present new things to come into being

106 THE BOOK OF WORSHIP Vol-I

would never come. But it is impossible for a thing which has no end to come to nought.

Another reason is that if there is no end of the motion of heavenly bodies, three conditions would arise — their numbers would be either odd or even, or both odd and even or neither odd or even. The last two are impossible, as positive and negative are united therein, since the affirmation of one is the negation of another and negation of one is the affirmation of another. They cannot be even, as even number comes odd by the addition of one. That which has no end cannot be even without change. They cannot be odd, because the number becomes even with the addition of one. How can it change into odd when its number has got no end? They cannot be even or odd as it has got no end . From this, it is concluded that the world is not free from changes and therefore it is an originated thing. When it is an originated thing, it requires a Creator to bring it into existence.