Egyptian-Hebrew stream·Jabirian Corpus·Selections from the Book of Modulation·Selections from the Book of Modulation

p. 393 (leaf n398)

It is indispensable that we indicate how to arrive at the use of the simple and the compound so that the operation with these may be comprehensively treated in these our books. And since this subject among the simples is the conversion of some of them into ٣ others and their mutual action, therefore have I entitled this my book "al-Tasrif". Because that subject among the composition of letters the grammarians call tasrif, and this subject among the simples the philosophers call tasrif. It was therefore not permissible that the name of the book be other than al-Tasrif. The proof of this is that qaf, alif and lam are separate letters; when they are joined they become qala. The root of qala in Arabic is qawala with the waw moved; ٩ when it became frequent the waw was made quiescent and it became qawl; then because of the quiescence of the waw and the opening of what precedes it, it was changed into an alif and became qala. And when we found this in language, and we had already made clear that all language is upon letters and there is no language except by the composition of letters, it was inevitable that the like of this should occur in the Natures; it is therefore true that the conversion of the Natures should be like the conversion of letters, since analogy had already become binding in the three which are the two extremes and the middle. ١٥ So apply it. What we mention in this our book is the conversion of the Natures and their states and their modalities and the modes of their combination according to the way of instruction; and at that point the book will be complete. Consider — may God preserve you — these favours bestowed by me upon you, and preserve yourself and continue.

p. 394 (leaf n399)

The consideration of it, together with the fact that I have already cured thee in this Book according to the need and above the need.

٣So we say: It is necessary that we know the cause of the Natures, as we have said, and their regimen. For it is known that when repletion is from Moisture, it is because it does not separate by a special distinguisher and separates by the distinguisher of another thing, and adheres to what is coarse — and what is subtle, it has that

٦it fills, since its parts were subtle; and what its parts were not small, then it fills, and that is because it has specified by its whole the whole of the thing, and the subtle is likewise * in particular — thus it is evident that subtleness is from Moisture and dryness from Dryness (). And Aristotle has already brought that in his book On Generation and Corruption.

٩And it is necessary that thou understand here the expansion [١٢٩] of this Book and its regimen, so that what thou desirest to generate and to analyse may be easy for thee.

١٢So when we have made clear that subtleness is comprised under Moisture, just as Man is under Animal, because the subtle is what fills, since what is subtle is small of parts, and what is small of parts is what fills, since it has already specified the thing * by its whole and interpenetrates

١٥and precipitates — and what the moist has specified, and that is because what it has specified did not separate by a special distinguisher, but rather separates only from another thing, then it necessarily follows that it precipitates and presses upon

p. 395 (leaf n400)

what touches it and this is the state of the moist, for because of this cause it readily separates itself. Thus subtlety is from the action of moisture. And if this is so, then the contrary quality is from a contrary quality, and thus thickness is from dryness. () And likewise viscosity is from moisture, since viscosity is only moisture which some influence has mixed with, like oil, and its contrary is from dryness, since this is the extreme of the dry so that it hardens from a little moisture. () And the indication of this—for it is on one model—is that viscosity is comprised under moisture and its contrary under dryness. As for viscosity being comprised under moisture, it is shown that the viscous is the moist with some influence. And that is because whatever of moist things does not readily divide but the divider slips from it, like glue and pitch and oil, is called viscous. Likewise aridity is from dryness, since this is only a thing that congeals from the scarcity of moisture. () And likewise milk is from the side of moisture, and that is because milk is what has been naturally disposed, and the tiger in it its grains, and it does not move, and this only the moist effects, and therefore moisture is not under milk but milk is under moisture. And the solid is under dryness, and that is because the solid is the congealed, petrified thing. ()

p. 396 (leaf n401)

Milk and solidity are both comprised under moisture and dryness. That is because milk is that which receives impression and whose particles cohere, and it does not move as the moist moves. ٣ That is because the moist does move, whereas milk coheres and receives impression without moving. Milk is therefore moist that has resembled the effect of the viscous. For that reason milk has come to be comprised under the moist, and this is not reversible. That is because milk, in addition to its having flow, likewise has that it does not move, just as the viscous is moist that has resembled some effect. The moist is therefore more than milk. The solid is comprised under the dry, and that is because the solid is the congealed petrified, ٩ and the congealed petrified is dry. Aristotle said in the Book of Generation and Corruption: () Both the moist and the dry are each said in many ways. That is because the dry is set opposite the moist and the wet, and opposite the moist are the dry and the congealed. () The demonstration of that is that when he defined the moist and the dry that are such in reality and said: ١٢٩b “The moist is that which does not occupy a proper place and occupies a foreign place with ease,” and said: “The dry is that which is easy to displace to a foreign place and is easily displaced to a proper place,” he began to make clear by this statement that under these two contraries — moisture and dryness — are comprised

p. 397 (leaf n402)

All the other contraries and under them they are arranged. He said: “Since the moist and the dry are each said of many names”, as for the fact that these two are each said of many names, it is shown first from ٣ the two things opposed to them. That is because when a thing has many opposites, it belongs to the things that are said of many names. And this exists in the things for which * opposites are posited. That is because the dry things are opposed by the moist ٦ and the wet, and these two differ one from the other. Thereby it is shown that the moist and the dry are each said of many names, and that all the meanings they signify are comprised under those two first ones by which alone they are defined ٩ ... as if we were saying: heat ١ t m f sh dh, col[prompt-injection-filtered], drynes[prompt-injection-filtered], moisture d ʿ l ʿ ١٢ r kh gh, and that these letters are found in every existent in the world. And existents are fire, air, water and earth, and the composite of them is animal, plant and stone. The fire, air, water and earth we have already fully treated their matter elsewhere ١٥

p. 398 (leaf n403)

book from these books we have found that and we have clarified it together with what is in it of the science of the Balance. As for the other three existents composed from the four composite ٣ then as for the animal it is necessary that you know that it is divided into three [٢١٣٩] divisions: first and second and third, and that the first is that which begins with its own essence for a beginner, and the second is that which begins with its own essence and is the cause of itself, and the third is that which begins from the second only, and that they all ٦ are divided into four divisions and they are animals seventh flying crawling walking nothing is devoid of that, except that the action of each one of them likewise is divided into three divisions and its being and its generation likewise, and the times of these and the measures of their ranks are one. And that is that the first animal is as I shall describe, and that is that it needs to enumerate all that is in it. An example of that ٩ Soul substance heat (٠) cold dryness moisture so if it is in the animal, the human, it is according to this and it is with one addition

p. 399 (leaf n404)

Then it is placed under that animal and it is said: the animal, and it is said beneath it: the walker, the crawler, the flyer, the swimmer. And since we have already clarified that, let us now state how the Balance is, so that what has preceded of the discourse may be completed by it and the matter may be as has been made clear, if God the Exalted wills. That is because we need to mention the animal with its three kinds and the Balance of each one; so we state in that according to what becomes firmly established in the understanding of the learner of what is required for the existence of the animal in the first instance together with its Balance and the Balance of what ought to be known by it if the generation of Heat is intended: the first degree of the four degrees: ten dirhams, one hundred and fifty days, five months; the second degree: thirty dirhams, four hundred and fifty days, fifteen months; the third degree: fifty dirhams, seven hundred and fifty days, twenty-five months.

p. 400 (leaf n405)

The fourth rank: eighty dirhams, one thousand two hundred days, forty months.

٣It is not only that one needs that in the repetition of time, but rather so that
it may be completed and perfected and moved and spoken. This is its meaning. It has been said that this is its station, I mean these days, and that just as it stayed it was more intense because of its resemblance and proximity to the hundred, glory be to

٦the Creator, the Unique, the Self-Sufficient.
As for the second of the animals > it < proceeds in the same course as the first in its ranks and its little and its much of its days and its states, and there is a difference between them in the instrument and the remedies

٩and it is mentioned in its place from the Book of Gathering.
The statement concerning the plants is like the statement concerning the animals except that it has of the weights something other than what belongs to the animals, because of the difference which necessarily exists between them. We have only made it the second because

١٢it is kinder upon the two, since the animal and the stone are two extremes and the plant is the intermediary. Let us know
this discourse, for if the foundation of the book is not understood, it will not benefit you to read anything, and that is because the knowledge in it is based upon understanding, since the purpose of all knowledge is that it be understood.

١٥We say after that concerning the plants: it is necessary that what we have exemplified first
in the animal be believed without addition in the plants and [not] the stone, and that is because what we have exemplified of the Intellect in the noble division of the animal is according to what we have exemplified, since every existent

١٨possesses a soul and does not possess an intellect. Let that be known, for we have fully treated it in the Book of the Arena.

p. 401 (leaf n406)

The Intellect from our books here. As for the plant [139], it is known that you need to begin it from the world of the Soul on account of the cause of coming-to-be first — and it began non-harmonious from the world of the Substance, and both matters are one — then likewise until you descend to the coming-to-be of the plant ٣ Soul Substance (٠) Heat (٠) (٨) Cold (٨) Dryness Moisture And we need to show you also the quantities of its degrees as we have exemplified to you in the animal. The coming-to-be of the plant in the first impulse and its Balance and the Balance of what it is necessary that you know its cause in its like, and likewise the second and the third: ٦ Heat: the first degree. Seven dirhams, seventy-five days, two months and a half The second degree: twenty-one dirhams, two hundred and twenty ٩ days, seven months and a half The third degree: >thirty-five dirhams, three hundred and five and seventy days, twelve months and a half ١٢ The fourth degree: <fifty-six dirhams, six hundred days, twenty months And whatever there is of Heat, Cold is like it, and likewise the statement concerning ١٥

p. 402 (leaf n407)

the dryness and the moisture, so know. And we have only put forward mention of heat because it is the first and none other; and likewise if we had put in its place one of its sisters and we need to come to mention of the Stone according to what we have drawn for the plants and the animals. ٣ So let us know that the Stone is divided into eight kinds, and each one of those kinds of the second is divided into three parts, and the three parts comprise all the kinds of the second. These aforementioned kinds are: ٦ (1) petrified, triturated, non-fusible (2) petrified, non-triturated, non-fusible (3) petrified, non-triturated, fusible ٩ (4) petrified, triturated, fusible (5) non-petrified, non-triturated, non-fusible (6) non-petrified, non-triturated, fusible ١٢ (7) non-petrified, triturated, non-fusible (8) non-petrified, triturated, fusible This then is what is in the Stone. And that is because it is the most difficult of these generated things and the most complete ١٥ [and] because it lacks the third cycle. And since the first was easier, therefore the third is more difficult, so the Stone is more difficult in the Work than anything else. And since the middle cycle was the mean between the difficult and the easy, the action of the plants was likewise, and it ١٨

p. 403 (leaf n408)

It is divided into the two of them, returning to the two of them, and it is thus, and by it the two of them are completed and by the two of them it is completed. This is a true saying. We have already shown you of examples what contains sufficiency, so let us take up the divisions of the Stone ٣. So we say: The Stone is divided into three divisions: a first division, which is like the first creation from the stones and it has a Balance separate from all Balances; and a second division, which is the acted-upon from the first Stone, imitating it and proceeding in its course, but its dissolution ٦ is nearer than the time of the first, even if it may be prolonged as though it were in the world a thousand years; and the third of the divisions, which is the Stone formed for us by design, and for each one there is a successor of the ranks. And we shall come to all of them [٢٤٠] according to what we teach of ٩ that constantly in all the taught matters to whomever desires them from it. So we say: The being of the Stone in the first impulsion from the second of the divisions: the Elements: the first rank: five dirhams, thirty days, a month ١٢. The second rank: fifteen dirhams, seventy days, three months. The third rank: twenty-five dirhams, one hundred and fifty ١٥ days, five months. The fourth rank: forty dirhams, two hundred and forty days, ١٨ eight months.

p. 404 (leaf n409)

Making of the Stone in the second batch: The Elements: First rank: three dirhams, ten days, one-third of a month. Second rank: nine dirhams, thirty days, one month. ٣ Third rank: fifteen dirhams, fifty days, one month and two-thirds of a month. Fourth rank: twenty-four dirhams, eighty days, two months and two-thirds of a month. ٦ .................. Now that we have come what is in the Stone of the first and second becomings, let us speak of the third becoming so that the discourse on it may be complete, and so that you may know and derive from these places and what precedes them and their causes how the “how” comes to be in a single day and a single hour. As for the animal, we have already singled it out in [certain] places, and the vegetable in others, except that we often mention it together with the animal. The Stone we have singled out in works like the Four Books on Stones and what follows their course, and we have associated them with the animal and the vegetable in other places. Let us therefore speak of the completion of the Stone, if God the Exalted wills. ١٥ Making of the Stone in the third batch: The Elements: First rank: one dirham and a half, three days, one-tenth of a month.

p. 405 (leaf n410)

The second degree: four dirhams and a half, nine days. The third degree: seven dirhams and a half, fifteen days, ٣ half a month. The fourth degree: twelve dirhams, twenty-four days, four fifths of a month. This is the sum of the discourse on the animal, the vegetable and the Stone. And let us know that the discourse ٦ on each one of the degrees and the stages and the realities and the seconds and the thirds and the fourths and the fifths is one in the animal, the vegetable and the Stone. And let us set the letters according to what we have exemplified, then let us proceed to these weights if you wish to extract ٩ the degrees their realities and likewise for the stages and what is below them to the fifths. ٣ (٪) And since we have come to the definition of the calculation, let us speak concerning the whole world and what ١٢ is ascribed to the worlds; so let us say first: it is necessary that we imagine a circle without end to its extremity, connected to the First by what it contains; for the philosophers call that circle the First Cause and its example is a circle without end to it, active — therefore the active cause is perfect — ١٥

p. 406 (leaf n411)

And conceive that it is capable of intellect and that it is intelligent and that it does not intellect except what is correct and the good in particular and justice and that in which there is for the Soul joy and ease and the like of that without end of what this circle is described by. And conceive a circle below that circle, ٣ an intelligent one not active and not capable but conceiving of all matters, their inward and their outward, their subtle and their gross, their general and their particular. And know that the meaning of our saying “a circle > below a circle <” is that its interior is smaller than it. And know that all the philosophers were not able to obtain the relation of this circle, I mean the inner one, to that which is above it at all, because no bound or measure falls upon the first, exalted is God. The example of that: [concentric circles with outer ring: first circle intelligent, intelligent, active, capable of action and intellect and what is in that; second circle intelligent not active; third circle conceiving, forming; and Soul in center]. ٩ And conceive also in the interior of this second circle another third circle far smaller in measure. And know also that most of the philosophers, rather all of them, did not know the measure of this third circle in relation to the second circle, but they set a bound and said:

p. 407 (leaf n412)

Its amount is one-tenth of one-tenth, like one in a hundred, and it is many times that without end according to our master and our group of the philosophers; in sum it is not obtained at all, because conjecture may be applied to it just as it is applied to the heptagonal figures, so that it occurs approximately ٣ not truly and obtained. Let us imagine in the third circle that it is active, powerful, ignorant, contrary to what we described in the first two circles; let this third circle equal the first in act and power, and let it differ from it in ignorance and intellect; and let the third circle differ from ٦ the second circle in act and power and ignorance, because in the second it is possible and in the first it is impossible, and let the second differ from it in intellect and knowledge. And this third circle is the Soul and its world is like the statement [١٤٧] of the aforementioned amount, and it is not obtained as ٩ we exemplified it first. Let us also imagine inside this third circle which is the circle of the Soul a fourth circle smaller than it by a great amount of unknown measure, as we exemplified. And let us know ١٢ concerning this circle that it does not know and does not ignore and does not have power except that its way is that it does not act and is not acted upon, and it is the world of the substance — the scattered motes — from which is the structure of this world, and it is what a people call Hyle. And we had already taught you what it is in another ١٥ book. God the Exalted said: And We shall advance upon what they have done of work and make it scattered motes.

p. 408 (leaf n413)

Then imagine also from the sides of this circle [and] its inside and its outside its sides or its bases either in the limits of the circles or other than it time and place, and the most correct is that it be represented in the sides upon a like of that on extending this place a little. Then imagine inside the circle of the substance a circle whose measure also is not known, and it is the circle of the simple elements, meaning heat and cold and dryness and moisture. And know that among the philosophers concerning that there is much disagreement, because one group said: it is a circle divided by two lines from its beginning to its end upon straightness as the diameters emerge like this figure.

p. 409 (leaf n414)

Some people said: There is no way for one of these worlds to be composite or derived or upon one of the shapes other than the circular, because the remaining things are only in the circular shapes, and because that is in ٣ the heptagonal shapes and the heptagonal shapes are not found among us and the like of that. We say: It is a great circle in which there are four circles facing each other upon straightness, so that in each side of the great circle there is a circle made adjacent to its side and it is ٦ one of the elements. And this is its image: [diagram] Some people said: Rather, a circle is only inside a circle separating one of the passives between the actives and one of the actives between the passives. And that is that you make ٩ a great circle which is the container of all those circles, below it a circle corresponding to it, and a part of it is made adjacent to a part of it, and the great circle is not ١٢ other than it [142].

p. 410 (leaf n415)

Yet it is called the circle of all the elements, that is, the circle that gathers all the contraries together. According to this example it is called worlds. Then there is placed in the interior of the greatest circle ٣ a circle which, as we have said, we name the world of heat; and in the interior of the circle of heat a smaller circle than it, called the circle of the action of heat and the action of the luminous and the like; we name it the circle of dryness; and let there be placed in the interior of the third circle which is dryness ٦ a fourth circle much below the third, called the world of cold; and below that circle which is the circle of cold let there be placed a circle a little below it, marked as the circle of the action of cold and the circle of rest and the world of moisture. And this is its example: [diagram]. This is all that they have said concerning these worlds. ٩ So it behoves you to picture that as you will, for no error will befall you from that in the science of the Balance in particular.

p. 411 (leaf n416)

And had we embarked upon explaining that and showing you where correctness lies and how error occurs therein, the discourse would have lengthened and we would have been charged with what is not just to charge us with. And indeed we have already singled it out for other places in which whoever wishes to debate concerning that ٣ should investigate, not in the science of the Balance, for indeed we have finished with it in more than one place where we found it and clarified it by its teaching. that is because what we possess of logic and geometry and dialectic and other than that of these philosophical sciences and all the instructional [sciences] we have not * symbolized ٦ anything in them at all, because he who has acquired knowledge brings out is in them just as occurs in these other sciences, and because those sciences are principles which the philosophers have already disclosed; we have not symbolized anything in them at all except what we have clarified and disclosed. And what we mention here of ٩ these sciences is only, in the lesser part of it, something by way of taqlid and in the greater part * by way of demonstration * <, and whatever the discourse draws near * to establishing demonstration upon it and disputes concerning it become few, then we bring it. And had we not done that, every ١٢ book would need that whatever is in it, either that every book in the world or most of it, so know it. Then let the learner imagine after that a great circle beneath these circles within the circle of moisture. One group said: it is void; and one group said: it is not.

p. 412 (leaf n417)

in it a void. But let it be conceived in it that it is a void, and that is the sounder of the two views. As for the first Soul which we mentioned beneath the world of the Intellect and which is the third circle of the first circles, it has indeed assimilated itself to the circle beneath it, which is the circle of the Substance, and the two have become one visible thing [143] and it is the first that was acted upon; in it is the beginning toward the world beneath it in coming-to-be, and from coming-to-be is Desire, as we have exemplified to you in another place. And that thing which comes-to-be was divided into parts or was one thing. And it is necessary that it be conceived after that that there comes to be from it a great circle, because things, when their parts and their wholes are one—and that occurs only in the remaining simple things—then what appears of them is according to their shape: if it is round, round, or if triangular, triangular. This discourse requires a condition, namely that it + he intended completion + by saying “in the first simple things, not the composite ones,” and the simple things are like heat and its sisters and like the Soul and the Intellect and the Substance, while the composite things are like Fire and Air and Water and Earth and Gold and Glass and what follows that course. And that circle is the greatest luminous Sphere which is called the encompassing Sphere of the world in which we are and all that is above us. And let it be conceived that it * was from purpose and composition, since we had already

p. 413 (leaf n418)

We have obtained that what was composite, not simple, it is not permissible that it be upon one thing and it may be permissible that it change. So I say: the world which is this circle, it only revolves by intent and knowledge that the round things are few in afflictions and that it is not perishable except if its Maker, be He glorified and exalted, who there is no god but He, hallowed be His names, wills; and He is the one who is above the First Cause and beneath the center of the small circle of this world in which we are, and He is the First and the Last and He is powerful over all things. And in that circle there are eleven circles and many other circles. And let us first imagine that the substance and the soul, when they mixed, descended to the world of heat and dryness, so they took from the two of them a strong part, so the body of that circle became... and it was marked by the aether and by the sphere a fire possessing soul, not like the fire in which is only the power of the soul; so understand these distinctions. And know that the first circle that was composed in this great circle is seven circles, one rising above the other, until there was between circle and circle as we said in the Book of the Balance and the Book of the Sun and the Moon. And the first of these circles in elevation is the circle of Saturn and beneath it Jupiter and beneath it Mars, then the Sun one by one to the world of the Moon, and after that the zodiacal signs and all the other planets are composed. And we have followed upon that in the Book of the States.

p. 414 (leaf n419)

The spheres and the number of the degrees and their names are [as] is required, and God be praised, and thanks. Then upon that is circle after circle up to the Elements and what is above them from the four composite elements, meaning fire and air and water and earth. ٣ Then indeed these circles, it is necessary that you know that in them is that which has motion and that which has no motion in it, and that the moving circles attract the stationary ones to motion, and that when those moved with the first motion, this animal came to be from them and likewise ٦ the plants and the stone, and that the stone was the last of the movers and the first the animal. And since we have come to all these foundations, let us proceed to the disposition of the Natures ٩ and let us set forth how that is upon the letters, if God the Exalted wills, so that the learner of that may conceive a fair conception and have no doubt concerning any part of it according to what we have always known in all the teachings; and God is the Guide to what is right and the Granter of success, for He is Generous, Noble. ١٢ Let us now consider the manner of this connection and the indication from these first sciences to the second ones and what follows them, how it is. So this is the manner of ١٥ the derivation and the istinbat.

p. 415 (leaf n420)

We say: This correspondence occurs from the visible to the invisible in three ways, namely: homogeneity, the course of the matter, and the effects. I shall exemplify each one of these ways and speak concerning it according to what I see as sufficient for my purpose which I have intended. So I say: Like the indication of homogeneity is the model, as when a man sees part of a thing to indicate thereby that the whole is of that thing, similar to this part. The indication of this chapter from this aspect is not a firm, sound indication, except that a group of the people of speculation have inferred from this chapter that upon which there is indication in it by necessity, meaning that they have established, because of this thing which is the model for example, it is of its genus which is more than it. And this is an indication not necessary nor firm in every case. And that is because this thing which is the model for example does not necessitate the existence of something else of its genus [146] whose judgment in substance and Nature is its judgment. The Manichaeans have inferred by this inference, saying: If there is in the world light and darkness, good and evil, beauty and ugliness, then it is necessary that outside this world also there be light and darkness and the rest of what they mentioned, words being for these. This inference is not necessary unless they establish that what is in the world of these are parts and portions. As for before they establish that, what they have made necessary by necessity does not follow from it. And that is because it is possible that what is in the world

p. 416 (leaf n421)

From these as parts, rather they are wholes in themselves; therefore this demonstration is not valid without making clear that what is in the world of these are parts and portions. Do you not see that the model is not established with one to whom is brought how much of that substance he has of it when that model is shown to him; rather it is not established with him by certain knowledge that he has of that any thing other than what is shown to him. Likewise, one who does not collect these my books and what is added to them of them and their glosses and what is attached to them therein, how little is his benefit from the great sciences. Man becomes, by the reading of two books from every art of the arts of my books, more knowledgeable than one who has read one book of them in the art that is in it. Know that these our thirty-two books are complete with their glosses, if you perceive that. I have made it clear in the Book of Medicine and the Four Stones and the Collection and the Field and the Balance and their likes among them, for we have only stipulated it. These books need it and they are few; it is necessary that there be added to them so that the discourse in them may be completed by the power of God and His might. By my lord’s truth, it is not much that man should labor in my thirty-two books and what is added to them especially a hundred years until he knows what is in them. How then, and that—by my lord’s truth—is found in less than a year, if they are collected and their causes and studied consecutively and continually; the knowledge comes forth from them and that is struck out, since—by my lord’s truth—the knowledge.

p. 417 (leaf n422)

not symbolized and not disclosed, but part of it is disclosed and part of it is disclosed. Understand this. Then we say: Only he in whom is present the necessary compelling knowledge that everything which is of that substance is present to the master of the model establishes [it]. Those who adduce this proof cling in this place to what I say. They say: The part and the whole belong to the category of the correlative, and therefore the existence of one of them requires the existence of the other, since there is no part except from a whole and no whole except from parts. What they have said concerning this meaning is a correct statement, yet there remains for them, in what they adduce as proof, that they must establish that this thing whose existence they have made to require the existence of another thing is a part and a portion and is not the whole itself. Likewise it is necessary to say to them in this place: The matter regarding the part and the whole is as you have said, yet it remains that you first establish for us that this thing is a part and a portion; otherwise it is possible, and one cannot be safe from the possibility, that this thing by which you have inferred the existence of another thing of its kind is the whole of what is in these aspects of this thing. So if they are able to do that regarding any of the things, this inference is sound; but whenever they are not able to explain that, it is not compellingly sound but only possible, and it is permissible that it be so.

p. 418 (leaf n423)

It is not the case that there is certain, verified knowledge in it of what is and what is not. What is obtained, then, from this mode of inference is only what we have mentioned and nothing else, namely, similarity in ٣ Nature, whenever it is found, does not entail existence. Whenever this mode of inference occurs between two disputants, it is to this outcome that they return. Whenever one investigates the composition <...> of this investigation, the conclusion reached in it is of this sort. ٦ As for the connection taken from the course of the matter, there is in it no certain knowledge that is necessary, compelling, or demonstrative at all; rather, it is persuasive knowledge that reaches only the point of being more appropriate, more fitting, and more worthy, and nothing else. Yet people’s use of it and their following of it ٩ and their inference by means of it and their acting in their affairs according to it is far greater than their use of the other two connections, because it is the syllogism, the induction of similars, and the adducing of them for the matter sought. This chapter is akin to demonstration and frequently corresponds to it, yet indicates ١٢ the opposite of what it indicates; its strength and weakness depend on the abundance or scarcity of similars and like examples. So much so that some people have supposed that it is possible for there to be in this chapter demonstrative, certain knowledge, and that whenever there is not found in everything preceding it a single matter ١٥ contrary to what testifies to some one of the matters. We shall treat this entire chapter exhaustively and speak about it, for the need to know the manner of that inference is urgent.

p. 419 (leaf n424)

Very much so. And this is general for you in this Work and other than it. So we say: The weakest analogy that exists is that for which there is found nothing but a single example, like a man who said, for instance: “A certain woman will give birth to a boy.” We asked him for the proof whence he knew that, and he answered us saying: Because she gave birth in the first year to a boy, and that woman had given birth to none but a single male child only. The strongest that exists of it is that whose like is everything in existence and of which nothing contrary has been found in what has been or in the witnessed, like a man who said: “This night of ours will disclose a day that follows it and comes immediately after it.” We asked him whence he knew that, and he answered saying: Because I have never found a night but that it disclosed a day [in which that did not occur], so it is evident that it cannot be otherwise than according to what I have found. As for what lies between these two, it is strong or weak according to the abundance or scarcity of analogues. There is not in this chapter any certain and necessary knowledge. It is only a matter of attaching and adducing the witnessed as testimony for the absent, because of what is in the soul of opinion and conjecture. For affairs must proceed according to order, similarity and resemblance. You will find most people conducting their affairs according to this conjecture and opinion, and it almost becomes certainty, to the point that if some event occurs on a certain day of the year, one hopes for the occurrence of the like of that very event on that same day of the other year. If it occurs in...

p. 420 (leaf n425)

That very day of this year like that event they became certain of that that its like will occur in the third year. And if it occurs in the third year also until when that occurs for example ten times in ten years they will not doubt at all of its occurrence in every year that will be 127 thereafter. And if this is the measure of what occurs in the soul of this meaning then what do you see will be in what has never been witnessed except in that manner as we have mentioned of the inference of the inferrer that this night of ours will be relieved by a day? For Galen despite his mastery of knowledge and his reflection in speculation has taken premises from this chapter as if they were first principles and has used them as examples until he said in his book Demonstration: that among the first premises in the Intellect is that if summer is necessarily followed by autumn then it only occurs after the exit of spring. And I reckon that this premise [it is not merely it is not and operation] is not sound without it being sound that the times have not ceased and will not cease to be like what they are upon. So if that is not sound then it is not safe that there be a summer not followed by autumn and not preceded by spring. I have already investigated this meaning exhaustively in my book entitled How of Inference with the Utmost Clarity according to the doctrine of logic and speech and this has also been used in his book entitled (...) for he said there sophistically or on the supposition that he feared for it. For he said: and it behooves us that we know

p. 421 (leaf n426)

That this noble part—meaning the part of the heaven—is not formed from the fact that our fathers and all the ancients never ceased to see it upon one single pattern, and the astrologers had observed it thousands of years before and found it upon one single pattern in its magnitudes and its motions. And the extension ٣ in this discourse and its expansion has attached itself to this inference and what follows it, and the materialists relied upon it to the point that they made it obligatory that it must be, because they had not seen and had not witnessed a man except from a woman and that no day exists except following a night and no night except following ٦ a day, and they rejected and discarded everything that the demonstrations had witnessed to the contrary. And we shall say concerning that meaning what ought to be said, and truly this is a chapter that the meaning of this doctrine ought not to overstep lightly. Likewise also there does not exist in the witness ٩ the establishing of proof that the letters, when they are composed upon the Natures by spelling, are sound, and the demonstration stands upon them. And an example of that is that we say: truly it was only possible that there should exist ١٢ a generated being except upon the pattern that we have perceived and witnessed if we had perceived all existents and our knowledge had encompassed them. But as for that which we fall short of, it is indeed possible that there exist existents whose judgment differs in things from the judgment of what we have witnessed and known, ١٥ since falling short of perceiving all existents is necessary for every one of us.

p. 422 (leaf n427)

In sum, that in which we are <...> so it is not for anyone to claim with truth that there is not in the absent except the like of what he has witnessed, or in the past and the future except the like of what is in the now, since he is limited, partial, finite in duration and sensation. Likewise it is not fitting that a human should infer that the world has not ceased to be from the fact that no one among people has perceived nor that there has not been a man except from a woman and a man because he has not perceived the matter except thus, because it is possible that the existence of people is later than the beginning of the world's being and that the first human's being was contrary to the manner in which the affair is in the generation of the rest of people. Whoever refuses that is obliged [147] not to accept what his sensation or the sensation of one to whom his report has reached does not reach, and he is obliged to deny the existence of many things while they exist. That is because in the world there are countries and nations whose people have never sensed the salamander at all nor (...) so according to this judgment, whenever an informant informs them that there exists an animal that moves its upper jaw in chewing or an animal that eats fire and swallows hot iron, they must reject that and prevent it; and whenever they do that they are mistaken. Likewise in the world there are people and inhabitants of countries and places who have not witnessed the attraction of iron by the magnet nor the flight of the hater of vinegar from vinegar, nor that serpents come to be from hair and bees come to be from the calf, and the like of these.

p. 423 (leaf n428)

These matters are many; it is necessary for this discourse that their existence be utterly nullified for one who has not witnessed them or whom no informant has informed that he witnessed them. And if the matter is thus, it is possible that the condition of all people in being prevented from perceiving many things ٣ in the absent be contrary to the witnessed, like the condition of these [in] the folk whom we mentioned. So it is not for anyone to reject and prevent the existence of what he has not witnessed the like of; rather, it is only fitting for him to suspend judgment on that until the demonstration witnesses its existence or its nonexistence. But as for him to suppose ٦ or reckon its nonexistence before what he is informed of reaches him and >or< to make necessary the nullification of what he is informed of and its nonexistence utterly, is that clear by way of inference from what we have estimated? Likewise, it is fitting when the Dahri goes on to deny that the world is generated and made, because ٩ no one of the people has witnessed the beginning of its generation and its disposition, that it be said to him: What do you deny that the existence of people is after the existence of the beginning of the world by a long time, and you mention the coming-to-be of a city or a palace [and] none of the people of its land mentions the beginning of its building? Then concede ١٢ that the priority of that is established by the cause by which the priority of the world is established. Then if he says: I only knew the city and the palace whose beginning of building I did not witness and none of those who died did, that they are built, because I saw the like of them built and I did not see the like of the world built, it is said to him: This very thing ١٥ is what (you say) concerning it and we reject ( * its being) by way of inference. So

p. 424 (leaf n429)

Where did you say, and it was incumbent upon you, that everything we have not witnessed, provided it has a like and a similar, is existent; yet you [hold that] everything we have not witnessed, provided it has no like and no similar, is not existent? And what prevents the world from having a beginning, even if we have not witnessed its like, since your deficiency and the deficiency of your likes in witnessing all existents has become manifest, and it is possible that most existents are among those not witnessed?

p. 425 (leaf n430)

We have already set forth in the first part of this book known as al-Safwa mention of Fire, Air, Water and Earth and how their positions are in the world and that Fire’s place is the upper and Water’s place is the middle which is the lower since the shape of the world is round and that ٣ Air and Earth are between these two elements, so know that. We had already set forth that Fire, Air, Water and Earth also are composite, not simple, and that the simple ones are Heat, Cold, Moisture ٦ and Dryness from which Fire, Water, Air and Earth were composed. Now we shall inform about the place of Heat, Cold, Moisture and Dryness since we are in need of it and if there is no man in the world who utters this nor knows it, out of niggardliness concerning it and regret for it, ٩ I warn you, O reader, by the right of your worshipped one, that you hear it only from those worthy of it. And before

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