and Exalted, is never to be described as possessing a part the way bodies possess parts. ⦗1⦘ If the objection is raised on account of the first point, the practitioners of kalām differ over the attributes of a body: should one say they are parts of the body, or say they are other than it, or rather refrain from saying they are other than it?
Al-Ashʿarī ⦗2⦘ reports from Ḍirār ibn ʿAmr ⦗3⦘ that he said: “Colors, tastes, scents ⦗4⦘, heat, cold, moisture, dryness, and softness ⦗5⦘ are parts of bodies and stand adjacent to one another.” He further transmitted that Ḍirār held the same view concerning istitaʿah (ability) and life.
Ḍirār also claimed that motion, stillness, and every other act that occurs in bodies are accidents, not bodies. Al-Ashʿarī likewise related that, with respect to taʾlīf (composition) ⦗6⦘, Ḍirār regarded it as a part of the body.
(1) In the original text: “lil-inkār.” This reading is confirmed in manuscripts S and T.
(2) Maqālāt al-Islāmiyyīn, vol. 2, p. 37.
(3) Dhirār ibn ‘Amr was one of the principal leaders of the Muʿtazila—after whom the Dhirāriyya sect is named. He maintained that bodies are merely composites of accidents such as color, taste, smell, and similar attributes inseparable from any body, and he posited other singular characteristics noted by al-Baghdādī and others. For his life and creed, see al-Farq bayna al-Firaq (al-Baghdādī), pp. 213–215; Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl (al-Dhahabī), 2:328; Lisan al-Mīzān (Ibn Ḥajar), 3:203.
(4) The original reads al-arāniḥ; in manuscript S as al-arānīj; in Ṭ as al-rawā’iḥ. The reading al-arāniḥ is the one adopted in al-Maqālāt. The noun rīḥ (“scent”) has plural forms arwāḥ, aryāḥ, riyāḥ, and rīḥ, with further plurals arāwīḥ/arāyīḥ. al-arj denotes a stirring motion; al-arīj/al-arīja refers to the diffusion of a pleasant scent, plural al-arā’ij. See Lisān al-ʿArab (Ibn Manẓūr), 2:207 (s.v. arj) and 2:455 (s.v. rūḥ). This term recurs frequently with variant spellings.
(5) In al-Maqālāt the reading is al-zinna.
(6) Linguistically, ta’līf (“composition”) denotes establishing affinity (’ulf) between two or more things; technically, it refers to grouping multiple items under a single name, whether that name applies to some…