LessonsDivine Names and Attributes: Affirmation, Transcendence and NamingQuiz

ولا جوهر
Nor a substance (*jawhar*) in the relevant technical sense.

For many theologians, jawhar denotes a spatially located indivisible constituent discussed in relation to bodies. Certain philosophical usages instead define substance by not being in a subject, or by a particular metaphysical classification. Confusing these senses makes verbal and substantive disagreements look identical.

If jawhar denotes a material constituent, its application to God is rejected. If a speaker merely means that the Necessary Being is not an accident, that still does not settle the separate question of whether such a term should be used as a divine name.

Opening interactive controls...

The competing senses of substance

Divine Names and Attributes: Affirmation, Transcendence and Naming

ولا جوهر
Nor a substance (*jawhar*) in the relevant technical sense.

For many theologians, jawhar denotes a spatially located indivisible constituent discussed in relation to bodies. Certain philosophical usages instead define substance by not being in a subject, or by a particular metaphysical classification. Confusing these senses makes verbal and substantive disagreements look identical.

If jawhar denotes a material constituent, its application to God is rejected. If a speaker merely means that the Necessary Being is not an accident, that still does not settle the separate question of whether such a term should be used as a divine name.