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As for someone who says, “They are accidents that can subsist only in a composite body, and whatever is composite is contingent and dependent—which is imperfection itself,” those who affirm the divine attributes take three approaches to applying the term “accident” to His attributes:

Some deny that they are accidents, saying instead, “They are attributes, not accidents.” This is the position of al-Ash‘arī and many jurists among the followers of Ahmad and others.

Others apply the term “accidents” to them, such as Hishām, Ibn Karrām, and others.

Still others refrain from either affirming or denying this designation, as they do with the term “other,” and likewise refrain from doing so with the term “body” and similar expressions. For saying “Knowledge is an accident” is an innovation, and saying “It is not an accident” is an innovation, just as saying “The Lord is a body” is an innovation, and saying “He is not a body” is an innovation.

Likewise, in ordinary Arabic usage, the term “body” means the physical body or bodily frame, as stated by al-Asma‘ī, Abū Zayd, and other Arabic lexicographers.

As for the speculative theologians, some mean by it a composite entity and apply it to the indivisible atom