An Essay on Arche Hyle and Matter (The destiny of matter from Greek philosophy to Islamic Philosophy)

To ask about the arche or first element of the world has been one of the questions of Greek philosophy received different answers. It was called hyle by Aristotle. During Graeco-Arabic translation movement, some translators rendered arche into madatu al-mawad (the matter of matters, prime matter) and hyle into matter; coining such wrong terms gave rise to many misunderstandings and philosophical complications. From the very beginning, the division of beings into corporeal and incorporeal was proposed by Muslim Philosophers. Later however, the term Jismani (bodily) was substituted for maddi (material); while the Aristotelian so-called hyle had been integrated in the meaning of material then most philosophers unknowingly made use of material instead of Jismani (bodily) even those who did not embrace hyle (the very matter) at all. In their essay and through semantic analysis of the related philosophical terms, the authors have tried to shed light on the philosophical consequences of coining such terms (such as that potentiality is confined to bodily things and that there is no time or motion in incorporeal beings); they managed to avoid verbal controversy which is far from philosophical discussion. Finally, they have suggested their adequate definitions of corporeal and incorporeal beings.