It is so. Accordingly, if a substance (jawhar) had been the spirit (rūḥ), then every substance would have had to be the spirit. This would be contrary to rational proof. (Tadbīrāt, 129)
(It) is a substance (jawhar) with two accidents (ʿaraḍ) and an entity (dhāt) with two attributes. The reality (ḥaqīqa) (essence) of this substance is knowledge and powers. The two attributes, the Knower and the True (al-ʿAlīm and al-Ḥaqq), circulate in the channels of the powers and manifest externally as a triad of powers.
The power nourished by the knowledge you possess is placed in one third of the reality of those powers. If you say knowledge is the root, then the powers are its branches. If, instead, you say the powers are the soil, then in that ḥāl (spiritual state), knowledge becomes the crop. This knowledge is divided into two: theoretical (qawlī, discursive) and practical (ʿamalī). Theoretical knowledge is the example in which you place the form's essence among the line of form-substance/substances-accident/accidents and reveal the reality of the form. Practical knowledge is the ḥikma (wisdom) that leads the philosopher to benefit from his own knowledge and brings the ruler to judgment by his decree.
These powers are also of two kinds: The first are summary-detailed (ijmālī-tafsīlī) powers. Their condition is aptitudes such as a good temperament, a correct path taken, soundness of speech, and completeness of action.
The second are summary-imaginative (ijmālī-takhyīlī) powers. Their condition is the ability to distinguish between the spatial occupation of the substance and the difference between its duality (isnaynīya, twofold nature). The entity with two attributes is you and me. For me, it is with you; for you, it is with us, that our God is. You exist not by the acceptance of the intelligible, but by your own reality. You exist by your attributes of servanthood, while I exist by my aspect of reality. Otherwise, I do not exist by the acceptance of the intelligible. I, in terms of the acceptance of the intelligible, am from the aspect of my reality (inniyya). I am one of the judgments; the Judge is Allah. You, however, are a creature, and the creature is a servant. (al-Insān 76:7)
The substance has two accidents: the first is pre-eternity (azal), the second is perpetuity (abad). It has two attributes: the first is the Real (Ḥaqq), the second is creation (khalq). It has two qualities: the first is pre-existence (qidem), the second is origination (ḥudūth). It has two names: the first is Lord (Rabb), the second is servant (ʿabd). It has two aspects: the first is the outward (ẓāhir), that is, the world (dunyā); the second is the inward (bāṭin), that is, the hereafter (ākhira). It has two rulings: the first is necessity (wujūb), the second is possibility (imkān). It has two considerations: the first is absent for itself, present for others; the second is absent for others, present for itself. It has two kinds of maʿrifa (gnosis): the first is to know first its necessity, then its negation; the second is to know first its negation, then its necessity. There is a point about it where understandings err, expressions distort their meanings, and ishārat (allusions) remain distant from their meanings. (al-Insān I, 15)
One of the levels of existence is the indivisible substance (jawhar-i fard, atom). For substance is the origin of bodies. What letters are to a word—indeed, what a dot is to a letter—substance is to bodies. As we have explained in our book Kitāb al-Nuqṭa.
Substance is that which accepts composition (combination with other existents) but does not accept division. Therefore, substance is the ultimate point at which bodies, when divided and destroyed, cease to exist. The annihilation of a composed thing is the dispersal and dissolution of its parts until each substance remains by itself. Before composition, the substance is called the simple substance (jawhar-i fard, singular/original substance); after composition, it is called the composite substance (jawhar-i murakkab); after the dissolution of the composition, it is called the simple substance and the smallest part that does not accept division. For it is not correct to mention the part without considering the whole. After dissolution, the dissolved composite body is considered as a whole.
Having thus understood substance, you should know that accident (ʿaraḍ) consists of the states, attributes, conditions, and judgments of the substance. All these are the ever-changing accidents of the substance.
For it is impossible for an accident to persist over two moments of time. The reason is this: it is called accident because it transfers from one place that accepts the accident to another. The substance, however, is the locus of the individual; it does not accept the transfer of the accident to itself. Rather, the accident passes from it temporarily without uniting with it. This continues without ceasing. (Marātib, 27)
cez Sabr (patient endurance) is to endure a calamity; this is called direct sabr, and its opposite is called cez and hel (lamentation and anxiety). A man, by shouting, tearing his collar and sleeves, and throwing himself to the ground, follows the call of his caprice (hawā). (Iḥyāʾ, IV, 82)
(See also sabr)