Atomism and the Ash'ari Physical Theory

One of al-Baqillani's most significant contributions to the Ash'ari school was his development of atomic theory (jawhar fard — the indivisible atom) as the physical foundation for Ash'ari theology. At-Tamhid presents this framework in detail and shows how it supports the key theological positions of the school.

The basic claim of Ash'ari atomism is that matter is composed of indivisible units — atoms — that have no extension in themselves but come together to form extended bodies. Accidents (a'rad) — the qualities and properties of things such as color, warmth, motion, and rest — are created by God in each atom at each moment. Accidents do not persist through two moments of time; they are created anew by God at each instant.

This physical framework has direct theological implications. If accidents — including the accident of being alive — are created by God anew at each moment and do not persist by any inherent power of their own, then the continued existence of everything is a constant act of divine creation. God is not simply the first cause who created the world and set it going; He is the continuous creator of all that exists at every instant. This framework supports the Ash'ari emphasis on divine sovereignty and the constant dependence of all creation on God.

More specifically, the atomic framework supports the doctrine of occasionalism — the denial of genuine causal power to created things. If fire does not have an inherent property of burning but rather God creates the accident of burning in conjunction with fire at each moment, then fire is not a genuine cause but an occasion for God's act. This denies any independent causal power to the created world and locates all genuine agency exclusively in God.

Al-Baqillani defends this physical theory against several objections. Critics argued that it contradicts ordinary experience and ordinary speech — we naturally say that fire burns and that food nourishes, which implies genuine causal relations. Al-Baqillani responds that these ordinary claims can be understood as referring to God's customary pattern of creating effects in conjunction with causes, without implying that the causes have any inherent power. The patterns are real and reliable; what is denied is only the metaphysical grounding of those patterns in genuinely efficacious created powers.

Philosophers in the Neoplatonic tradition, particularly Ibn Sina and his followers, offered sophisticated arguments against atomism from the perspective of Aristotelian physics. Al-Baqillani's engagement with these arguments in At-Tamhid helped develop the Ash'ari school's resources for defending its physical theory against philosophical critique.