in its universal form was not something that speakers of the language needed to express, for they needed only to express what exists in external reality and what ordinarily occurs in people’s hearts. Whatever exists externally only in relation to something else does not exist in the mind in abstraction. This differs from the terms “human being” and “horse”: since their referents exist externally without such a relation, minds have become accustomed to conceiving what these terms denote. This is unlike conceiving what is denoted by will, knowledge, power, or unrestricted, universal existence. For these, the language has no unqualified expression denoting them. Rather, the expression “will” occurs only as qualified by the one who wills, “knowledge” only as qualified by the one who knows, and “power” only as qualified by the one who has power.

The same applies to all other accidents: since they exist only in the subjects in which they inhere, qualified by those subjects, the language likewise has expressions for them only in this qualified form. Thus, the expressions “blackness,” “whiteness,” “length,” and “shortness” occur in the language only as qualified by what is black, white, long, short, and so forth—not in abstraction from every qualification. They occur in abstraction only in the writings of those who compile works on language, because they have understood from the speech of its speakers the common meaning those speakers intend.

Among such examples is the saying of the Most High:

“So Allah made it taste the garment of hunger and fear.”

Some people say: “Tasting is literal when it means tasting with the mouth, and clothing when it means what is worn on the body; both expressions are used metaphorically here.” This is not so. Rather, al-Khalīl said: “In the language of the Arabs, tasting means experiencing the taste of something.” Usage bears this out. The Most High said:

“We will surely make them taste the lesser punishment before the greater punishment.”

And He said:

“Taste! Indeed, you are the mighty, the noble!”

And He said:

“So it tasted the evil consequences of its conduct.”

And He said:

“So taste