  Saadya upholds the absolute unity of God, and argues firmly for creation ex nihilo. In this former regard, Saadya shares a sensibility with the Mu‘tâzilite theologians, and reveals a knowledge of various heated debates on this theme at play in Islamic circles during his time. On the issue of creation, Saadya defends a creation ex nihilo position (though here breaks further company with the Mu‘tâzilites who, in addition to creation ex nihilo, advanced an atomistic doctrine of continuous [re-]creation). In fact, between the various arguments he offers in his Amânât as well as in his Commentary on the Book of Creation, Saadya defends the creation ex nihilo position against 18 other theories, each of which he critiques in turn. In this series of arguments, Saadya reveals a familiarity with a number of philosophical and theological doctrines, including those of the pre-Socratics, Plato and the Pythagoreans (though it should be noted that his knowledge of these thinkers would have been largely based on doxographies and other Arabic encyclopedic sources). 