These thinkers supposed that these universals (1) exist externally as shared realities. This is an error, for there is no commonality in what exists externally. Rather, every existent possesses something peculiar to it in which nothing else shares. Commonality applies to general, universal, and absolute notions, and these are general, absolute, and universal only in minds, not among concrete entities. Thus, commonality occurs only in knowledge and the intellect (2), whereas that through which a thing is particularized and distinguished—and this (3) is what exists externally—admits no commonality. There is only resemblance and similarity, which are called commonality because of participation in a general meaning. Division likewise proceeds according to commonality. Whoever fails to distinguish between dividing a universal into its particulars [and dividing a whole into its parts] (4), as in dividing the category “word” into noun, verb, and particle (5), will err, just as many people have erred on this point.
When a group of grammarians, such as al-Zajjāji (6) and Ibn Jinnī (7), said that speech is divided
(1) N and M read *kulliyyāt* (“universals”).
(2) A and B read: “Thus, commonality exists only in knowledge and the intellect.”
(3) N and M read *huwa* (“it is”).
(4) The words in parentheses are absent from all four manuscripts, but the context requires their inclusion.
(5) After the words *wa harfin* (“and a particle”), manuscripts N and M contain repetition and textual disorder, as follows: “…and a particle, and like dividing a whole into its parts, such as dividing a word into a noun, verb, and particle; otherwise, he erred.”
(6) Abd al-Rahmān ibn Ishāq, known as al-Zajjājī, Abu al-Qāsim al-Nahāwandī, was the leading authority on Arabic in his time. He died in Tiberias in 337 AH, though 339 and 340 are also reported. For his biography, see *Wafayāt al-Ayān*, 2:317–318; al-Qiftī, *Inbāh al-Ruwāt*, 2:160–161 (Dār al-Kutub, 1952); al-Suyūtī, *Bughyat al-Wuāt*, p. 129 (al-Khānjī, 1326); al-Zubaydī, *Tabaqāt al-Nahwiyyīn wa-al-Lughawiyyīn*, p. 129 (al-Khānjī, 1945); and al-Ziriklī, *al-Alām*, vol. 4.
(7) Uthmān ibn Jinnī, Abu al-Fath al-Mawsilī, was a leading authority on literature and language. He accompanied Abu Alī al-Fārisī and transmitted from him. He died in Baghdad in 392 AH, though 372 is also reported. For his biography, see *Wafayāt al-Ayān*, pp. 410–412; *Inbāh al-Ruwāt*, 2:335–340; *Bughyat al-Wuāt*, p. [0–9] 22; and al-Ziriklī, *al-Alām*, 4:364.