Tahafut_al-Tahafut-transl-Engl-van-den-Bergh

and with Him there was the world and there was time. And
the meaning of our words that He existed without the world
is: the existence of the essence of the Creator and the nonexistence
of the essence of the world, and nothing else. And
the meaning of our words that He existed and with Him there
was the world is: the existence of the two essences, and
nothing else. And the meaning of priority: the uniqueness of
His existence, and nothing else. And the world is like a
singular person; if we should say, for instance: God existed
without Jesus, then He existed with Jesus-these words
contain nothing but, first, the existence of an essence and
the non-existence of an essence, then, the existence of two
essences, and there is no need to assume here a third
essence, namely time, although imagination cannot desist
from assuming it. But we should not heed the errors of the
imagination.
I say:
These words are erroneous and mistaken, for we have already proved
that there are two kinds of existence: one in the nature of which there is
motion and which cannot be separated from time; the other in the nature
of which there is no motion and which is eternal and cannot be described
in terms of time. The first is known by the senses and by reason; the
existence of the second-in the nature of which there is neither motion nor
change-is known by proof to everyone who acknowledges that each
motion needs a mover and each effect a cause, and that the causes which
move each other do not regress infinitely, but end in a first cause which is
absolutely unmoved. And it has also been established that the entity in the
nature of which there is no movement is the cause of the entity in the
nature of which there is movement. And it has been proved also that the
entity in the nature of which there is motion cannot be separated from
time, and that the entity in the nature of which there is no movement is
entirely free from time. Therefore the priority of the one entity over the
other is based neither on a priority in time, nor on the priority of that kind of
cause and effect, which belongs to the nature of things in motion, like the
priority of a man to his shadow. For this reason anyone who compares the
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