Divine Power and the Eternity of the World

Is it beyond God's power قدرت to bring the world عالم into existence وجود from a prior non-existence عدم; is it impossible for an Omnipotent Being قادر مطلق to create something from absolute nothingness?; An adequate resolution of these questions involves an analysis of the concept of Divine Power; power in relation to the Necessary Being واجب بالذات is defined by the Philosophers as the emanation صدور from the Divine Essence ذات حق of the Divine Act فعل الاھی, with God's will ارادہ; as per this definition it is nowhere necessary for God to bring into existence His act from a prior non-existence, in order for Him to qualify as an Agent with Might or Power فاعل قادر و مختار; in fact the only attribute صفت necessary for the said qualification is for the Divine Act to proceed from the Essence with His Will, such that if the act were to proceed or emanate from the Essence without His Will, as is the case with natural فاعل بالطبیعه and coerced agents فاعل بالقسر, then He would fail to qualify for the attribution اتصاف; as long as the Divine act emanates from the Essence with His Will, it makes no difference whether the emanation is eternal or temporal.

 Now the scope of the Divine Attribute of Power extends over all things possible in essence ممکن بالذات and has no meaning in relation to things that are impossible in essence ممتنع بالذات such as creating a stone heavier than he could lift, rendering 2+2=5 or creating an uncaused effect; and in this there is no limiting of God's Power because the reason why things that are impossible in essence cannot be realized is not due to any lack of ability or capacity on God's part, but because these things are essentially incapable of being realized themselves; now the coming into the existence of the world from absolute non-existence is impossible in essence, and therefore the question of Divine Power in relation to it is invalid; it is impossible in essence because existence only emanates from existence and not from non-existence which is its opposite مقابل, and has no entified reality حقیقت عینیه.

 In fact from the viewpoint of the Philosophers the more potent and powerful an agent, the greater is its capacity to eliminate non-existence from its act, such that an Omnipotent Agent must be capable of banishing non-existence completely from its act.

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