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How did Ibn Gabirol explain the composition of created beings?

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Medieval philosophy Image of St. Ambrose, detail from a stained-glass window in a Roman Catholic church in Antwerp, Belgium.

In the philosophy of Solomon ibn Gabirol, all created beings—with the sole exception of God—are composed of two intrinsic, inseparable principles: matter and form. This application of hylomorphism extends beyond corporeal substances to include even "intelligent" substances, such as angels and the intellect.12

Ibn Gabirol’s system, detailed in his work Fons vitae, posits that these principles are mediated by the divine will, which acts as an intermediary between the transcendent Deity and the created world. According to his schema:13

Matter derives directly from the divine essence and serves as the underlying support for all substances.13
Form derives from the divine will.1

While Ibn Gabirol maintained that matter and form exist only in conjunction, his work suggests a hierarchy where universal matter is superior to universal form, a position that distinguished his thought from later Scholastic thinkers like St. Thomas Aquinas, who rejected the idea that matter could be a creative principle in non-corporeal beings.13