to that which, in his view, cannot endure for two successive instants, and he goes on to say: “The attributes of the created order are called accidents because they do not persist for two moments, whereas the attributes of Allah are, in his estimation, everlasting and therefore are not termed accidents.”

Among the Muslim dialecticians there are those who label the attributes of every subject as accidents. If one adopts that usage, however, then no purely technical expression coined by a particular group should be counted among the Names of Allah that appear in the essentials of faith and must be affirmed, for such terminology suggests an erroneous notion. Over this very point—together with the Christians—many people have become confused.

Some treat the attributes as independent realities and self-subsistent substances. Others regard the self-subsistent realities as attributes, even though attributes do not exist on their own and necessarily require a subject in which they inhere. Those in the first camp divide into two kinds: some of them deny the attributes altogether, arguing, “If we were to affirm for Him life, knowledge, and power…”