nor by any messenger; indeed, not even reason itself indicates them, and the proofs adduced by the philosophers in their favor are feeble. Reason points only to what the messengers have reported concerning the angels.

Yet those who strain the words of the messengers so as to agree with the philosophers’ doctrine identify the Preserved Tablet with the celestial soul, the Intellect and the Pen with the First Intellect, the Throne with the ninth sphere, and so on—topics that have been dealt with in detail elsewhere.

Since they have produced neither a scriptural nor a rational proof for the subtle substances they use as illustrations, they have no argument against someone who says, “A substance is anything that occupies space and is receptive to accidents.” And because they link the soul to the intellect, it is evident that the soul they have in mind is the celestial soul.

If, however, they intend the human soul, its existence is firmly established: the messengers and their followers have spoken of it, as has been set out in its proper place. Nevertheless, this soul is not to be paired with the intellect as though the latter were a self-subsistent substance; rather, the intellect is one of the soul’s attributes, derived from the verb “to understand.” At times “intellect” refers to the innate faculty residing within the soul, and at other times to acting in accordance with knowledge, as has been explained elsewhere.

Fourth Aspect:
Their remark, “and the substance of light.”

We reply: If by “light” you mean the very substance of the sun or of fire, that is a body situated in a locus—it occupies space and receives accidents—and so it is not one of the subtle substances you have cited as examples. But if you mean