Al-Jiha: The Three Modes of Existence

Tools ready — now ask about existence: Sessions 1–10 gave you the tools to build arguments. Session 11 asks: what kind of existence does a thing have?

Modality — the foundation of theology: Must it exist, can it exist, or is it impossible for it to exist? This question, called Modality, is the logical foundation of all Islamic theology and philosophy.

Al-Jiha — the qualifier of necessity: Al-Jiha (literally "direction" or "mode") is the qualifier that tells you how necessarily a predicate belongs to a subject — or how necessarily something exists. Every proposition and every being falls into exactly one of three modes, no more and no fewer.

• Al-Wujub — Necessity. What must be, what cannot not be, what exists by its own essence and cannot possibly fail to exist. The Wajib has no dependence on anything outside itself for its existence. In propositions: "Two plus two necessarily equals four" — necessarily and always, in every possible world. In theology: Allah is Al-Wajib — the Necessarily Existent Being. Wajib al-Wujud bi-Dhatihi: Necessarily Existent by His Own Essence. His existence requires no external cause, no prior condition, no external support. He simply must be. First identified by Ibn Sina in Al-Shifa' — the distinction between Wajib and Mumkin is the cornerstone of Islamic philosophical theology.
• Al-Imkan — Contingency. What can be, but does not have to be — what has no inherent preference for existence over non-existence, and requires an external cause to exist. In propositions: "Zayd exists" — but Zayd could have not existed; his existence is not necessary, it depends on a cause. In theology: all of creation is Mumkin — contingent. Mumkin al-Wujud bi-Dhatihi: Contingently Existent by its own essence. The Mumkin is equally "on the fence" between existence and non-existence — it needs something to tip it toward existence. That something is the cause. Every tree, every human, every galaxy, every angel is Mumkin. They exist, but they did not have to exist.
• Al-Imtina' — Impossibility. What cannot be, what necessarily does not and cannot exist, what contradicts itself or the fundamental laws of reality. In propositions: "A square circle exists" — impossible, the concept destroys itself. In theology: a second being equal to Allah is Mumtani'. Mumtani' al-Wujud bi-Dhatihi: Impossible Existent. Two Wajib beings are Mumtani' — for if both were necessary, each would limit the other, and neither would be necessarily Being. Surah Al-Anbiya 21:22: "If there were in them gods besides Allah, they would both have been corrupted." The Quran's argument for Tawhid follows the logic of Imtina'.

Example

The exhaustive division: The exhaustive division: every being that exists or could exist falls into exactly one of these three categories. Nothing can belong to two at once.

The engine of the Cosmological Argument: This trichotomy is the most fundamental division in Islamic Falsafa, and it is the engine of the Cosmological Argument we build in Topic 11.5.

Key Terms

• Jiha (الجہة) — modality/mode
• Wujub (الوجوب) — necessity
• Imkan (الامکان) — contingency
• Imtina' (الامتناع) — impossibility
• Wajib al-Wujud (واجب الوجود) — Necessary Being
• Mumkin al-Wujud (ممکن الوجود) — Contingent Being
• Mumtani' al-Wujud (ممتنع الوجود) — Impossible Being

Quran or Hadith

Quran 21:22, translation as shown on the slide. — to be checked.

Fresh diagram to be drawn: A three-column diagram: Wujub (must be) / Imkan (can be) / Imtina' (cannot be), each with a proposition example and a theology example. To be drawn in Project Desk colours.