Then the Scholar said: "Know, O questioner, that the body is a thing and the thing is a body, so for that reason the names and the arguments are equivalent.

And if a thing were more established than the body, your argument would have been manifest." Then he said: "Weakness enters into the 'thing' from five aspects: because it is an accident (arad), and the accident does not stand by itself; and motion does not stand by itself; and likewise color, taste, and flavor, all of that does not stand by itself, but rather stands by something else. And the body stands by itself and these accidents need it." And things need the body and the body does not need them. And the thing enters into the category of the body, but the body does not enter into the category of the thing. And the form is stronger than the body.

Then he said after a long speech: "Indeed He is not a body external to the limit of bodies, and He is external to the limit of accidents, because He is not limited by other than these limits. And that is because the Creator is not a taste, nor a color, nor a smell, nor a sound, but He is another unique fifth body by the ancient, eternal oneness; He is not perceived by witnessing (al-'iyan). And whatever is perceived by witnessing, it is not a color, nor a smell, nor a sound, nor a taste, but it is existent by witnessing."