section_path: Philosophy/Metaphysical doctrine
section_name: Metaphysical doctrine
paragraph_text: Metaphysical doctrine
  
  Early Islamic philosophy and Islamic metaphysics, imbued as it is with kalam, distinguishes between essence and existence more clearly than Aristotelianism. Whereas existence is the domain of the contingent and the accidental, essence endures within a being beyond the accidental. The philosophy of Avicenna, particularly that part relating to metaphysics, owes much to al-Farabi. The search for a definitive Islamic philosophy separate from Occasionalism can be seen in what is left of his work.
  
  Following al-Farabi 's lead, Avicenna initiated a full-fledged inquiry into the question of being, in which he distinguished between essence (Arabic: ماهية, romanized: māhiya) and existence (Arabic: وجود, romanized: wujūd). He argued that the fact of existence cannot be inferred from or accounted for by the essence of existing things, and that form and matter by themselves cannot interact and originate the movement of the universe or the progressive actualization of existing things. Existence must, therefore, be due to an agent-cause that necessitates, imparts, gives, or adds existence to an essence. To do so, the cause must be an existing thing and coexist with its effect.