Eighth to the Sixteenth Century - Rashid Islamic Center

Primary Sources • 239Through motion there is time, since motion is change; changeis the number of the duration of that which changes, and motionis a counting of the duration of that which changes. Time is aduration counted by motion, and every body has duration, as we saidpreviously, viz., that in which there is being, i.e., that in which thereis that which it is. Body is not prior to motion, as we have explained.Nor is body prior to duration, which is counted by motion. Body,motion and time are therefore not prior to one another in being,and they occur simultaneously in being. Thus if time is finite inactuality, then, necessarily, the being of a body is finite in actuality,if composition and harmonious arrangement are a kind of change,though if composition and harmonious arrangement were not a kindof change, this conclusion would not be necessary.Let us now explain in another way that it is not possible for timeto have infinity in actuality, either in the past or future. We say:Before every temporal segment there is (another) segment, untilwe reach a temporal segment before which there is no segment, i.e.,a seg mented duration before which there is no segmented duration.It cannot be otherwise—if it were possible, and after every segmentof time there was a segment, infinitely, then we would never reacha given time—for the duration from past infinity to this given timewould be equal to the duration from this given time regressing intimes to infinity; and if (the duration) from infinity to a definite timewas known, then (the duration) from this known time to temporalinfinity would be known, and then the infinite is finite, and this is animpossible contradiction.Furthermore, if a definite time cannot be reached until atime before it is reached, nor that before it until a time before it isreached, and so to infinity; and the infinite can neither be traversednor brought to an end; then the temporally infinite can never betraversed so as to reach a definite time. However its termination at adefinite time exists, and time is not an infinite segment, but rather isfinite necessarily, and therefore the duration of body is not infinite,and it is not possible for body to be without duration. Thus the beingof a body does not have infinity; the being of a body is, rather, finite,and it is impossible for body to be eternal.