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1
614-638

  • There is no power (to any one) that he should move a hand in defence; no (right of) speech, that he should utter a word concerning injury or benefit.
  • Recite from the Qur’án the interpretation of (i.e. a text which interprets) the (preceding) verse: God said, Thou didst not throw when thou threwest. 615
  • If we let fly an arrow, that (action) is not from us: we are (only) the bow, and the shooter of the arrow is God.
  • This is not jabr (compulsion); it is the meaning of jabbárí (almightiness): the mention of almightiness is for the sake of (inspiring us with) humility.
  • Our humility is evidence of necessity, (but) our sense of guilt is evidence of freewill.
  • If there were not freewill, what is this shame? And what is this sorrow and guilty confusion and abashment?
  • Why is there chiding between pupils and masters? Why is the mind changing (so as to depart) from plans (already formed)? 620
  • And if you say that he (the assertor of free-will) takes no heed of the (Divine) compulsion, (and that) God's moon (majesty) hides its face (from him) in the cloud (of his own blindness),
  • There is a good answer to this; if you hearken, you will relinquish unbelief and incline towards the (true) religion.
  • Remorse and humility occur at the time of illness: the time of illness is wholly wakefulness (of conscience).
  • At the time when you are becoming ill, you pray God to forgive your trespass;
  • The foulness of your sin is shown to you, you resolve to come back to the (right) way; 625
  • You make promises and vows that henceforth your chosen course (of action) will be nothing but obedience (to God):
  • Therefore it has become certain that illness gives to you conscience and wakefulness.
  • Note, then, this principle, O thou that seekest the principle; every one who suffers pain has caught the scent (thereof):
  • The more wakeful any one is, the more full of suffering he is; the more aware (of God) he is, the paler he is in countenance.
  • If you are aware of His jabr (compulsion), where is your humility? Where is your feeling of (being loaded with) the chain of His jabbárí (almightiness)? 630
  • How should one make merry who is bound in chains? When does the captive in prison behave like the man who is free?
  • And if you consider that your foot is shackled (and that) the king's officers are sitting (as custodians) over you,
  • Then do not act like an officer (tyrannously) towards the helpless, inasmuch as that is not the nature and habit of a helpless man.
  • Since you do not feel His compulsion, do not say (that you are compelled); and if you feel it, where is the sign of your feeling?
  • In every act for which you have inclination, you are clearly conscious of your power (to perform it), 635
  • (But) in the act for which you have no inclination and desire, you make yourself a necessitarian, saying, “This is from God.”
  • The prophets are necessitarians in regard to the works of this world, (while) the infidels are necessitarians in regard to the works of the next world.
  • To the prophets the works of the next world are (a matter of) freewill; to the foolish the works of this world are (a matter of) freewill,