Kalām Atomism and its Criticism in Arabic Philosophy

In this paper I examine the theories of the Mu‘tazilite Abū l-Huḏail al-ʿAllāf  (d. ca. 841) and Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm an-Naẓẓām (d. 845) with respect to the atomistic structure of reality. The former was one of the first promoters of an atomistic theory in Islamic lands, while the latter was an influent adversary of kalām atomism. I also describe the transfer of this debate into the domain of Arabic philosophy, by examining the anti-atomistic arguments of two Arabic philosophers, Abū Zakarīyā’ Yaḥyā ibn ʿAdī (d. 974) and Abū-ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn-ʿAbdallāh Ibn Sīnā/Avicenna (d. 1037), with a close focus on the popular argument of the sphere touching a plane. Finally, I argue that Avicenna’s interpretation of said argument might have influenced the debates on the continuum in the Latin world.

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