 Central debates about the viability of atomism in the Islamic world centred on infinite divisibility, applying paradoxes similar to those of Zeno to the problem of an ant crawling over a sandal. A problem about the fact that different particles in a rolling millstone or wheel must be moving at different speeds, despite the apparent cohesiveness of the millstone, is found in Islamic discussions. The insistence within kalām atomism on recognizing accidents that adhere in the whole of composite bodies, and that cannot be traced back to the properties of individual atoms, may share the motivation of Epicurus’ attempt to avoid the eliminativism of Democritus’ theory. Likewise, epistemological arguments for preserving confidence in sense perception, even given the possibility of illusion, may have been formulated to avoid the sceptical potential inherent in a Democritean approach to perception and empirical knowledge.