بخش 130 - جواب گفتن مؤمن سُنّی، کافر جبری را و در اثبات اختیار بنده دلیل گفتن سنّت راهی باشد کوفتهٔ اقدام انبیا علیهم‌السلام بر یمین آن راه بیابان جبر کی خود را اختیار نبیند و امر و نهی را منکر شود و تاویل کند و از منکر شدن امر و نهی لازم آید انکار بهشت کی جزای مطیعان امرست و دوزخ جزای مخالفان امر و دیگر نگویم به چه انجامد کی العاقل تکفیه الاشاره و بر یسار آن راه بیابان قدرست کی قدرت خالق را مغلوب قدرت خلق داند و از آن آن فسادها زاید کی آن مغ جبری بر می‌شمرد

The true believer replied, “O Necessitarian, hear the words addressed (to you); you have said your say: lo, I bring the answer.

You have seen your own game, O chess-player: (now) see your adversary's game in all its breadth and length.

You have read (to me) your letter of apology: (now) read the Sunní's letter. Why have you remained (an infidel)?

You have discoursed in Necessitarian fashion on the (Divine) destiny: (now) hear from me the mystery thereof in (this) debate.

Beyond doubt we possess a certain power of choice: you cannot deny the plain evidence of the (inward) sense.

One never says ‘Come’ to a stone: how should any one request a brickbat to keep faith?

One never says to a human being, ‘Hey, fly!’ or ‘Come, O blind man, and look at me!’

God hath said, ‘There is nothing intolerable (laid) upon the blind’: how should the Lord who bestows relief lay upon any one what is intolerable?

Nobody says to a stone, ‘Thou hast come late’ or (to a stick), ‘Why didst thou strike a blow at me, O stick?’

Will any one address demands like these to a person who is compelled, or strike a person who is excused (from complying with them)?

Command and prohibition and anger and conferment of honour and (bestowal of) rebuke concern him (only) who possesses the power of choice, O purebosomed one.

There is (such) a power of choice in regard to injustice and wrong-doing: this (is what) I meant by this Devil and carnal soul.

The power of choice resides in your inward part, (but) it does not wound its hand till it sees a Joseph.

The power of choice and the instinct (to choose) were (latent) in the soul: (when) it beheld his (Joseph's) face, then it spread wings and pinions (to fly towards him).

When the dog is asleep its power of choice is lost, (but) when it sees the tripe it wags its tail.

A horse, too, whinnies when he sees barley, and when the meat is moved, the cat miauls.

Sight (of the desired object) is the means of moving the power of choice (to exert itself), just as a blowing (of breath) raises sparks from the fire.

Therefore your power of choice is moved (to action) when Iblís becomes a go-between (dallála) and brings (to you) a message from Wís.

When he presents an object of desire to this person (who possesses the power of choice), the sleeping power unrolls itself (begins to move towards that object);

And (on the other hand), in despite of the Devil, the Angel presents (to you) good objects (of desire) and makes an outcry in your heart,

In order that your power to choose the good may be moved (to action); for, before presentation, these two dispositions (towards good or evil) are asleep.

So the Angel and the Devil have become presenters (of good or evil objects of desire) for the purpose of setting the power of choice in motion.

Your power to choose good or evil is increased tenfold by inspirations (of the Angel) and suggestions (of the Devil).

Hence, when thy ritual prayer is finished, O excellent man, it behoves thee to offer a salutation to the Angels,

Saying, ‘Through your goodly inspiration and incitement, my power to choose this ritual prayer was set going.’

Again, after (having committed) sin thou wilt curse Iblís, because through him thou art inclined (to wards sin).

These two adversaries are making offers to thee in secret and presenting (objects of desire) in the (state of phenomenal existence which is a) curtain over the Unseen.

When the curtain over the Unseen is raised from before thee, thou wilt behold the faces of thy (two) brokers,

And from their words wilt recognise without trouble that these were they who spoke (to thee) invisibly.

The Devil will say, ‘O thou who art a captive to thy (sensual) nature and body,

I was (only) presenting to thee (objects of desire): I did not force (them upon thee).’ And the Angel will say, ‘I told thee that thy sorrow would be increased in consequence of this (sensual) joy.

Did not I tell thee on such and such a day that the way to Paradise is in that (spiritual) direction?

(That) we are lovers of thy soul and fosterers of thy spirit and sincere worshippers of thy Father?

(That) at this time also we are serving thee and inviting thee (to advance) towards sovereignty?

(And that) that party (the Devils) were thy Father's enemies who refused to obey the (Divine) command, Worship (Adam)?

Thou didst accept that (offer made by them), thou didst reject ours: thou didst not acknowledge the debt (of gratitude) due for our services.

Now look on us and them in clear view, and recognise (each party) by voice and speech.’

If you hear a secret from a friend at midnight, you will know that it was he when he speaks (to you again) at dawn;

And if two persons bring news to you in the night, you will recognise both of them in the daytime by their (manner of) speaking.

(If) during the night the sound of a lion and the sound of a dog have come (into some one's ear) and he has not seen their forms on account of the darkness,

When day breaks and they begin to make (the same) sound again, the intelligent (hearer) will know them by the sound (which they make).

The upshot is this, that both the Devil and the (angelic) Spirit who present (objects of desire to us) exist for the purpose of completing (actualising) the power of choice.

There is an invisible power of choice within us; when it sees two (alternative) objects of desire it waxes strong.

Teachers beat (school-)children: how should they inflict that correction upon a black stone?

Do you ever say to a stone, ‘Come to-morrow; and if you don't come, I will give your bad behaviour the punishment it deserves’?

Does any reasonable man strike a brickbat? Does any one reprove a stone?

In (the eyes of) reason, Necessitarianism (jabr) is more shameful than the doctrine of (absolute) Free-will (qadar), because the Necessitarian is denying his own (inward) sense.

The man who holds the doctrine of (absolute) Free-will does not deny his (inward) sense: (he says), ‘The action of God is not mediated by the senses, O son.’

He who denies the action of the Almighty Lord is (virtually) denying Him who is indicated by the indication.

That one (the believer in absolute Free-will) says, ‘There is smoke, but no fire; there is candle-light without any resplendent candle’;

And this one (the Necessitarian) sees the fire plainly, (but) for the sake of denial he says it does not exist.

It burns his raiment, (yet) he says, ‘There is no fire’; it (the thread) stitches his raiment, (yet) he says, ‘There is no thread.’

Hence this doctrine of Necessity is Sophisticism (Scepticism): consequently he (the Necessitarian), from this point of view, is worse than the infidel (believer in absolute Free-will).

The infidel says, ‘The world exists, (but) there is no Lord’: he says that (the invocation) ‘O my Lord!’ is not to be approved.

This one (the Necessitarian) says, ‘The world is really naught’: the Sophist (Sceptic) is in a tangle (of error).

The whole world acknowledges (the reality of) the power of choice: (the proof is) their commanding and forbidding (each other)—‘Bring this and do not bring that!’

He (the Necessitarian) says that commanding and forbidding are naught and that there is no power of choice. All this (doctrine) is erroneous.

Animals (too) acknowledge (the reality of) the (inward) sense, O comrade, but it is a subtle (difficult) matter to apprehend the proof (of this).

Inasmuch as (the reality of) our power of choice is perceived by the (inward) sense, responsibility for actions may well be laid upon it.