He said:
“The comparative form af‘al indicates a greater degree of the quality denoted by the word. Thus, saying, ‘This person is more learned and more forbearing,’ indicates superiority in the qualities denoted by knowledge and forbearance. Since they use ajsam (‘more massive’) for something with more parts, this shows that by ‘body’ they mean something composite. Whoever speaks of a body that is not composite has therefore departed from Arabic usage.”

They said:
“This is a confusion in terminology, although we do not declare him an unbeliever so long as he does not affirm the defining characteristics of a body, namely composition and combination.”

Some disputed their use of the expression, “This is more massive than that,” saying that this expression is not part of the Arabic language, as is reported of Abū Zayd. The response is: There is no doubt that the Arabs say, “This is jasīm,” meaning large in bulk, and, “This is ajsam than that,” meaning greater in bulk. However, the claim that the Arabs understand this to be due to a greater number of parts—namely, indivisible atoms—would hold only if all speakers of the language believed that a body is composed of indivisible atoms. An indivisible atom is something so minute and slight that its right side cannot be distinguished from its left.

It is well known that most rational human beings do not form a conception of an indivisible atom. Of those who do, most do not affirm its existence, while those who affirm it do so only through subtle, lengthy, and far-fetched arguments. It is therefore impossible that this should be what they intended by a word in common use in their language, spoken by learned and ordinary people alike. It is known beyond doubt that none of the Companions or those who followed them