ABSTRACT
In brief, the being of bodies (i.e. substances), accidents, and the categories (maqūlāt) is evident in this sensible world. 1 And for all entities in this realm which belong to the ten categories, essence (māhiyya) is different from existence (anniya). 2 We have asserted that they are all contingent beings. And accident subsists in substances which are receptive to change. Matter (māddā) and form (ṣūra), the components of bodies, are also constituents of the body. By its own nature, matter is (qā’im) incapable of action (fi‘l). The same holds true for form. We have also made the assertion that any entity having this nature is a contingent being which exists due to a cause, rather than due to its own nature. Being dependent means that the contingent being exists due to something other than itself. We have likewise asserted that the causes culminate in a Necessary Existent and that the Necessary Existent is one. It has become evident, therefore, that there is a primary entity (awwalī) in the world which is not in the world (‘alam nīst) though the being of the world comes from It. Its existence, which is necessary, is due to Itself. In reality It is absolute being (hast-i maḥḍ) and absolute existence (wujūd-i maḥḍ). All things exist due to It in the same manner as the light of the sun (āftāb) is due to itself, whereas the illumination all other things receive from the sun is accidental. 3 This analogy would have been correct if the sun were the basis (nafs) of its own (nafs) illumination. 4 This is not the case, however, because the illumination of the sun has a subject (mauḍu‘), whereas the being of the Necessary Existent has no subject but stands (qā’im) by Itself.
