The fourth argument(1): Even if they intended composition(2), they intended it only with respect to things that are coarse and dense. Thus, the claimant’s allegations that they call everything that can be pointed to a body and that they also say it is composite are two false claims.
The majority of Muslims who say, “He is not a body,” also say: Whoever says, “He is a body,” intending thereby that He exists or is self-subsisting (or something similar), or says, “He is a substance,” intending thereby that He is self-subsisting(3), is correct in meaning but mistaken in wording. If, however, he asserts(4) that He is composed of indivisible atoms(5) or the like, then he is mistaken in meaning; and they disagree as to whether he should be declared an unbeliever.
Those who maintain that a body is composed of indivisible atoms(6) have themselves disagreed over what the term denotes. One view holds that a single atom, provided another joins it, constitutes a body. This is the view of Judge Abū Bakr, Judge Abū Yalā, and others.(7) Another view holds that it requires two atoms or more; another, four or more; another, six or more; another, eight or more; another, sixteen; and another, thirty-two. Al-Asharī mentioned most of these views in his book Maqālāt al-Islāmiyyīn nūn(8) wa Ikhtilāf al-Musallīn(9).