Then those who hold that a body is composed of individual substances disagreed (1) as to whether it is a single substance, provided that another like it is joined to it; two or more substances; four; six; eight; sixteen; or thirty-two. These are well-known positions among them.
Given the divergent technical usages and views surrounding the terms “body,” “substance,” and “that which occupies space,” for this and other reasons it is impermissible to affirm or deny such a term without qualification.
Rather, if someone says, “The Creator [Most High] (2) is a body,” he is asked: “Do you mean that He is composed of parts, like something that was once separate and then assembled? Or [that He admits of] (3) separation—whether it is said that He assembled by Himself or was assembled by another (4)? Or that He belongs to the same genus as any created thing? Or that He is composed of matter and form? Or of (5) individual substances?”
If this is what he means, he is told: “This is false.”
If, however, he says, “What I mean [by it] is that He (6) exists or subsists in Himself—as is related of Hishām, Muhammad ibn Karrām, and others [who used this expression] (7)—or that He is described