“The Necessary Existent has no cause; rather, It is the cause of…” — Avicenna (The Healing, Metaphysics (Marmura))

Source and attribution

The archive attributes this English wording to The Healing, Metaphysics (Marmura) and files it under Islamic Philosophy. That locator distinguishes the passage from loose internet attributions: readers can return to the named work or section to check translation, surrounding argument, and edition-specific wording.

About Avicenna

Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna, 980–1037) wrote The Healing and The Canon of Medicine, dominating Islamic and later Latin curricula. Born near Bukhara, he synthesized Aristotelian and Neoplatonic themes into a system centered on the Necessary Existent and an immortal rational soul.

How to read this passage

Across 4 recurring voices here (notably Maimonides and Saadia Gaon), god is framed through Jewish Rationalism and Islamic Philosophy. Some passages define god; others warn how it fails; still others relocate it inside habit, community, or language. This passage enters that discussion through god, being.

Concepts in this quote

God

God appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat god as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.

Being

Being appears in this archive as a live philosophical concern—not a slogan. These verified English passages show how thinkers treat being as a problem of judgment, practice, or explanation.

How to cite this quotation

APA: Avicenna. (n.d.). The Necessary Existent has no cause; rather, It is the cause of all that is possible. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0563

MLA: Avicenna. “The Necessary Existent has no cause; rather, It….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0563.

Chicago: Avicenna. “The Necessary Existent has no cause; rather, It….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0563.

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