Others followed a broader line of argument, saying:

“A body is never devoid of accidents, and accidents are temporally originated and do not persist for two instants.”

Some of them say:

“A body is never devoid of one of the categories (1) of accidents, because it is receptive to it, and whatever is receptive to a thing must possess either it or its contrary.”

Others said:

“A body is never devoid of conjunction, separation, motion, and rest. These four categories constitute the locative states; thus, a body (2) is never devoid of locative states.”

There is extensive discussion of these lines of argument and their implications, which has been set out fully elsewhere. The purpose here is merely to draw attention to them.

Although this discourse originated with the Mu'tazila, it entered the discourse of [those who affirm the attributes, and even that of] (3) those affiliated with the Sunnah in its narrower sense: those affiliated (4) with hadith and the Sunnah. It is found in the writings of many followers of Mālik, al-Shāfi'i, Abū Hanīfa, Ahmad (5), and others.

[Al-Asharī’s Position on Affirming the Attributes]

This is among the remnants of Mu'tazilite discourse that al-Asharī retained. For when he renounced their school, he opposed (6) the Mu'tazila regarding the foundational doctrines in which they had become renowned for opposing (7) [Ahl al-] (8) Sunnah—such as affirming the attributes and the vision of Allah, and that the Quran is not