 It should be clear already that Fârâbî’s argument in the Perfect City uses the word “existence” [wujûd] a great deal, in contexts where it is not obviously necessary. Why say that “the first being is the first cause of existence to all other beings” and not just “the first being is the cause of all other beings”? Why say “nothing other than it can have the existence that it has” rather than “nothing other than it is first” or “nothing other than it is in the same species or genus as it”? Why say that if X and Y are similar in one respect and different in another respect,