their absence from the subject in which they occur, this requires examination. Hence rational thinkers have disputed this, but not the former point. Much of the dispute is merely verbal, since the absence of something may entail something existent. Take life, for example: the absence of life from a body entails existent accidents.

People have disputed whether death is an absence or an existent reality. Those who say, “It is an existent reality,” cite the words of Allah Most High:

“Created death and life” (al-Mulk: 2).

He thus states that He created death just as He created life. Their opponents reply that an absence which comes about is created just as something existent is created. Alternatively, they say that the death which is created consists of the existent realities necessarily accompanying the absence of life. In that case, the dispute is merely verbal.

Likewise, they have disputed whether darkness is an existent reality or an absence. It is the absence of light from that which is capable of receiving it. Those who say, “It is an existent reality,” cite the words of Allah Most High:

“And made darkness and light” (al-An‘ām: 1).

The other side replies that everything which newly arises and comes into being, whether an existent reality or an absence, is made by Allah, glorified be He. Alternatively, they say that the absence of light entails existent realities, and these constitute the darkness that is made.

To regard rest as an existent reality is less plausible than to regard death, darkness and the like as existent realities. Rest may mean a force within a body that prevents its motion, such as the nature within a stone that causes it to remain settled on the ground. This is something existent. But those who say, “Rest is an absence,” do not identify that nature with rest. Rather, they may call it i‘timād, distinguishing between rest and i‘timād. Yet it may