If takwīn is only “the relation between Creator and creature,” how can that relation obtain before the creature exists? If the relation is temporal, does that make a divine attribute temporal?
The Māturīdī answer distinguishes the underlying attribute from the external relation. Takwīn is a real principle, whereas its relation to a particular creature is realized at the time of that creature.
The Ashʿarī position asks what independent proof requires another real attribute if all actual effects can already be accounted for through the relation of power and will. Thus the disagreement concerns the reality of attributes of action, not just vocabulary.