The problem of accidents in the early period of kalām

Ilmu'l-kalam made use of the approaches and explanations about the Universe and its constituents, namely jawhar (substance), a'rād (accidents), and jism (body), and the connection between them when it executed its mission of protecting Islamic creeds by establishing them on the rational and revelational essentials. So, it uses physical issues as means of metaphysic explanations. In this regard, the mutakallimūns discuss cosmic problems and develop their own concept about the Universe. Despite the differences in these concepts, jawhar, arad, and jism are widely accepted as the Universe's constituents. Moreover, disputes show up about which combination of them generates the Universe. The commonly held concept between mutakallimūns is that the Universe generates from the jawhars, the indivisible parts, and 'arad, which provide alteration and change. In this concept, jawhars are homogeneous parts that compose the frame of bodies. Moreover, accidents are the components that provide bodies their attributes and are responsible for the continuity, annihilation, alteration, and changes in the objects. In addition, some mutakallimūns also assert that the Universe generates only from bodies or only from accidents. This study examines the mutaqaddimūns' approach to 'arad, its definitions, conceptual framework, main features, its place in the concepts of the Universe, and as proof of creation as a constituent of the Universe. The study focused on the mutaqaddimūn period because this period deals with physical and cosmological issues heavier and more profound, and more technical than the later periods. The methodology of the mutaqaddimūn period is attached to the Arabic language, its culture, and the arbitration of revelation. So, we also tried to determine how this methodology is reflected in the explanations about accidents. The final goal of this study is to draw a frame for how the thoughts about accidents affected the mutaqaddimūns concept of physical and metaphysical explanations, considering the role of the concepts of the Universe in explaining metaphysical issues.