Fârâbî gives no further explanation of how or why the existence of X can be a sufficient cause of the existence of Y. (He says that the existence of Y “emanates” [using the root f-y-ḍ] from the existence of X, but this is just a technical term meaning that X’s existence, rather than some further act of X, causes Y to exist; the term “emanation” does not explain how this happens, and Fârâbî does not pretend that it does.) He just infers that this must happen in some cases, since more than one thi