The second Quality necessary in God is Priority (_qidam_); its meaning is lack of beginning. And the meaning of God’s being Prior (_qadim_) is that there was no beginning to His existence, as opposed to Zayd, for example. Zayd’s existence had a beginning and it was the creation from the drop from which he was created. And there is a difference of opinion whether Prior and _Azali_ (eternal with respect to past time) mean the same or not. Those who hold that they mean the same, define them as that which has no beginning, and explain “that which” by thing (_shay_). That is, prior and _azali_ are the thing which has no beginning; so the essence of God and His qualities are included. And those who hold that their meaning is different define prior as the entity which had no beginning and _azali_ as that which had no beginning, covering thus both entity and non-entity. So _azali_ is broader than prior, but they both come together in the essence of God and His existential qualities. The essence of God is _azali_ and His Power (_qudra_) is _azali_. But only _azali_ is said of the states (_hals_) like God’s being powerful, in accordance with the doctrine of the states. For God’s being powerful is called _azali_, in accordance with that doctrine, and is not called prior, because in prior there must be existence, and “being powerful” does not rise to the level of existence [to being an entity], but is only a state (_hal_). And the proof of God’s Priority is that if He were not Prior He would be a thing originated (_hadith_), because there is no medium between the prior and the thing originated; to everything of which priority is denied, origin belongs. But if God were a thing originated, He would need an originator, and His originator would need an originator, and so on. Then, if the originators did not coincide, there would be the Endless Chain (_tasalsul_), that is a sequence of things, one after another to infinity; and the Endless Chain is impossible. And if the series of originators comes to an end by it being said that the originator of God was originated by Him, then we have the Circle (_dawr_) and it is that one thing depends on another thing which again depends on the first. For if God had an originator, He would depend on this originator; but the hypothesis is that God originated this originator and so the originator depends on Him. But the Circle is impossible; that is, its existence is unthinkable. And that which leads to the Circle and to the Chain, both being impossible, involves the originating of God. So, the originating of God is impossible; for what involves an impossibility is impossible. The proof, in short, is that you say, “If God were other than Prior, through being a thing originated, He would have need of an originator. Then the Circle or the Chain would be unavoidable; but they are both impossible. So, the originating of God is impossible and His Priority is