and therefore does not change. Change in Him would be a transition to something less perfect, and this is a kind of motion. Thus, this intellect would not be an intellect in actuality, but only in potentiality.”

Abū al-Barakāt said:

“What has been said to rule out change altogether, even changes in understanding and knowledge, does not follow for change in general. Indeed, it does not follow at all. If it does follow, it does so only for certain bodily changes, such as heat and cold, and at certain times—not in every circumstance and at every time. Nor does anything of this kind necessarily apply to souls, to which understanding and knowledge belong, rather than to bodies.

“For he says that every change or instance of being acted upon requires the thing concerned to move from one place to another before that change.”

He said:

“This is impossible, for souls acquire new understanding and knowledge without moving from one place to another, according to his own view. He does not believe that they occupy a place at all, so how could they move within one? This applies only to bodies undergoing certain changes and conditions, such as becoming hot or cold; and even in these two cases it is not invariably required,