its existence. The philosophers’ claim that bodies, motions, and periods of time admit of division without end is false, as those who affirm the indivisible part have shown. Likewise, the position of those who affirm its existence is false for the reasons given by those who deny it: it must admit of division. Indeed, Abū al-Ma'ālī and others acknowledged that it is imperceptible to the senses.

Anyone who reflects on the arguments of the philosophers who maintain that division can continue without end, and those who maintain the existence of an indivisible part, will find that each group’s arguments invalidate the other’s position. Upon investigation, both positions prove false. The correct view is that expressed by those belonging to a third group opposed to both: when the constituent parts of bodies become sufficiently small, they undergo transformation. This is observable in particles of water: when they become sufficiently small, the water turns into air or earth.

Thus, no entity remains that cannot be divided, as those who affirm the indivisible part maintain. Their position is refuted by the objection raised by its opponents: one side of it must be distinguishable from another. Nor does it admit of division without end, for this is even more untenable than the first position. Rather, it admits of division up to a certain point, then undergoes transformation when it becomes small. Nor is the transformation of bodies as they become smaller