Abstract

Ibn Sīnā introduces the idea of genus (jins) in explaining the relationship of gradational universals (al-kullī al-mushakkak) with their individuals among Muslim Peripatetics. This idea is criticised by Suhrawardī, who demonstrates that a gradational universal cannot logically be considered a proximate genus for its individuals, nor can their specific quiddities be regarded as falling under it. Suhrawardī proposes the idea of the universal concomitant (al-lāzim al-aʿamm) of the gradational universal in relation to its individuals, and considers existence and light as universal concomitants in relation to existences and lights. This idea reaches perfection in al-Ṭūsī’s thought; in criticising Fakhr al-Dīn al‑Rāzī’s statements concerning how existence is predicated of the Necessary and the contingent, al-Ṭūsī systematically explains the universal concomitant of existence in relation to existential realities. However, this same idea becomes the basis for Ibn Kammūnah’s famous doubt concerning the negation of the unity of the Necessary Existent, and Mullā Ṣadrā, in refuting this objection, arrives at the idea of gradation (tashkīk) in the reality of existence, transforming gradation in the concept of existence into gradation in its reality. Understanding this evolutionary trajectory in the thought of Muslim philosophers concerning how existence is gradational in relation to its instances provides an appropriate historical perspective on the evolution of existence and its properties among Muslim thinkers.