and paraded among the clans and tribes, while it is proclaimed: ‘This is the punishment of one who abandoned the Book and the sunnah and turned to speculative theology.’” (1); and Ahmad ibn Hanbal said, “The scholars of speculative theology are heretics” (2), and, “No one ever donned the garb of speculative theology and prospered” (3)—along with other statements of this kind.

The fact remains that the doctrine that bodies are composed of indivisible atoms is not known to have been held by any of the Muslim imams—neither the Companions, nor those who followed them in righteousness, nor any of the renowned imams who came after them.

Rather, those who hold this doctrine maintain that, ever since Allah Most High created the indivisible atoms, He has created nothing that exists in itself: neither heaven nor earth, neither animal nor plant, neither mineral nor human being nor anything else. Instead, He merely brings about new combinations of those already-existing atoms, joining and separating them. Thus, He originates only accidents subsisting in those atoms, not entities subsisting in themselves.

They therefore maintain that when He creates clouds, rain, human beings, other animals, trees, plants, and fruits, He does not create any entity that subsists in itself; He creates only accidents that subsist in something else. This contradicts what is established by revelation, reason, and direct observation. The existence of indivisible atoms in isolation from bodies is known to be false by reason and sense perception—let alone the claim that the only entities subsisting in themselves that Allah Most High ever created are those atoms. And these people—