Between Reason and Revelation

Twin Wisdoms Reconciled

Eric Ormsby, Eric Ormsby, Eric Ormsby

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780857733986
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Letteratura
• Subtopic: Critica letteraria mediorientale

I.B.Tauris in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies This is the first English translation of the final philosophical work of the great eleventh-century Ismaili thinker, poet, and Fatimid emissary, N?sir-i Khusraw. Appointed from Cairo by command of the Fatimid Imam-caliph al-Mustansir to serve first as a d?'?, and then as the hujjat, for the entire region of Khur?s?n, he maintained his allegiance both to his mission and his Imam-caliph for the rest of his life, even when threatened and driven into exile. Written
during his exile in Badakhsh?n in the year 1070, N?sir-i Khusraw here develops a powerful presentation of both Aristotelian philosophy and Ismaili exegesis, or ta'w?l, and strives to show that they are ultimately in harmony. The work is presented as a learned commentary on a long philosophical poem, written in the previous century and sent to N?sir by the am?r of Badakhsh?n, 'Al? b. al-Asad, who copied the poem out in his own hand from memory and asked the poet-philosopher to explicate it. In doing so, N?sir ranges over a huge span of topics from logic and language to the nature of the physical world, from the spheres of the highest heavens to the plants and animals of the earthly realm, and, most importantly, hidden spiritual realities: the esoteric (b?tin) as well as the exoteric (z?hir) realms. He thus discusses the nature of God, the creation of human beings, and the mysteries concealed in the physical world, itself a reflection of a higher, transcendent realm. Between Reason and Revelation: Twin Wisdoms Reconciled is an annotated translation of the Persian text prepared by Henry Corbin and Mohammed Mu'?n based on the single surviving manuscript of the work, now in the Süleymaniye Mosque Library in Istanbul. It is a work of great philosophical and spiritual insight, which is also a pioneering attempt to tackle difficult
intellectual problems in the Persian language; it is at once lucid and lyrical, precise and speculative. N?sir's influence has been immense as both a poet and a thinker, and the Kit?b-i J?mi' al-hikmatayn is his crowning work.

1

The Reason for the Composition of this Book; its Title

[10] Abū Muʿīn Nāṣir b. Khusraw b. al-Ḥārith says: Having praised God the Exalted, we must speak about the composition of this book for this book is something new. But whatever is newly formed (ḥādith) must have a cause for its appearance. Everything which appears in time necessarily has five causes. First of these is the efficient cause (ʿillat-i fāʿilat), such as the carpenter who constructs a throne. Next is the instrumental cause (ʿillat-i ālatī), that is, the axe and saw and other [tools] by which the carpenter brings this about. Third is the material cause (ʿillat-i hayūlānī), such as the wood which receives the carpenter’s constructive activity. Fourth is the formal cause (ʿillat-i ṣūrī), that is, the form of the throne which must be present in the carpenter’s mind. And fifth is the final cause (ʿillat-i ghā’ī), which is why the throne is being made at all, namely, so that the ruler can sit on the throne.⁴⁴

[11] The sages of true religion (ḥukamā-yi dīn-i ḥaqq) are in agreement with philosophy (falsafat) on the fact that a first cause to be caused is [in effect] a final cause. The cause for the throne on which the sultan is to sit, its construction by the carpenter with his tools and out of wood, all come about through the command of the king who wishes to sit upon the throne. Hence, the last to be constructed must be the first cause of that construction. For this reason the sages recite the well-known maxim, ‘First in thought, last in deed.’⁴⁵ Do not you see that the carpenter’s first thought must be that the king should have a throne and that his final thought must be that the king sits upon the throne? The why of the world (chirā’i-yi ʿālam) is, in the end, the creation of man, after whom nothing else came to be. At the beginning of creation, it is said, the Creator of the world had the creation of man as His aim, so that man might come to be at the end of His creation.

[12] We will explain this more fully in this book in its proper place. Every book which is composed has these same five causes, and necessarily so. First, the efficient cause; this must be the book’s author. Then, the instrumental cause, the pen and the knife. The third, the material cause, is the paper and the ink. Fourth is the formal cause, and this is word and discourse. And the fifth is the perfective cause (illat-i tamāmī);⁴⁶ that is, the conveyance of the knowledge which is in the book to those who seek it. Still, the cause of all the causes, and which is greater than the efficient cause, is the perfective cause which we just mentioned. Accordingly, the book’s author, who composes its content and arranges its words, does so in order that the seeker after this knowledge which he does not know may arrive at that which he does not know. And if it is justice not to condone an injury (sitam) against a person who has been wronged, then it is even greater justice to convey knowledge to the ignorant, for ignorance is a manifest injustice (jahl sitamī-yi ẓāhir ast). If it may be in our power to give some portion of what we possess of this to the needy, that is an act of beneficence. And if it is God’s command that we give something out of what we own to those who are our kinsmen – and our kinsmen are other humans among all the animals – then, to give them a share of knowledge, which is the very essence of humanity, is obedience to God. Indeed, He commanded His Prophet in this verse: ‘God enjoins justice, doing good and giving to kinsfolk.’⁴⁷ This is a trait of the Prophet as well. He tells us that ‘These three actions which I always perform, God commanded me to perform.’ The sages have affirmed that for every new thing these five causes must be present; whenever one of the five is removed, the event does not occur. Thus, if the carpenter has tool in hand, as well as wood, and the form of the throne is present to him, but nobody wants a throne, the carpenter does not make it. And if there is a carpenter who has tools and knows how to build a throne, and the king wants a throne, but the wood – the material cause – is missing, the throne does not come to be. If four causes are present – the carpenter, the wood, the carpenter’s knowledge, the form of the throne – and the king wants the throne, even so, the throne will not be constructed if the tools are missing.

[13] The sages of true religion state that the cause of any newly created thing is sevenfold. If any of the seven causes is absent, that thing may not come to be. First, the efficient cause, that is, the maker; next, the instrumental cause; third, the material cause; fourth, the formal cause; fifth, the spatial cause (ʿillat-i makānī); sixth, the temporal cause (ʿillat-i zamānī); and seventh, the perfective [final] cause.⁴⁸ This is so because the maker can make a created thing in a [given] space at a [given] time; thus these two [the spatial and the temporal] figure among the causes for the emergence of contingent things (muḥdathāt). And indeed, this is most excellent [as a schema], for in the creation of the world, it is clear, the cause for the emergence of existing things as well as the three ‘kingdoms’ of nature⁴⁹ [are] the seven stars in the seven spheres; they set individual entities in their [proper] order (mudabbirān-i ashkhāṣ-and).⁵⁰ The vegetal, animal, and mineral [realms] are such by the ordainment of the Mighty and Knowing One.⁵¹

[14] We say now that it is the rational soul (nafs-i sukhan-gū’i) through which man has become pre-eminent in the world; it is why he has been given charge of earth and water, air, and fire, together with control over the beasts of the earth, such that he can turn each and every one of them to his own advantage. Those who enjoy authority in Islam state that whoever says, ‘I know that scammony softens human nature’,⁵² or ‘I know that oxymel settles the bile’⁵³ is an unbeliever. How could any ignorance be more powerful than this? The notion of kufr (unbelief) has, however, taken possession of an entire group. And yet, it is not a doctor’s nature to claim ‘I created scammony’, nor does an astronomer say, ‘I caused the solar eclipse.’ If a doctor who, in the light of his knowledge, says that myrobalan⁵⁴ wards off the pain of fever and bile in the constitution is an ‘unbeliever’, then anybody who realises that water wards off the pain of thirst or bread the pangs of hunger must be an unbeliever too. This is so because every remedy, every foodstuff, every drink, was created by God. Even so, there seems to be no end to the error and unbelief into which the mighty of the community have fallen.

[15] Let us return to the discussion, namely, the creation by God of things with a ‘how?’ and a ‘why?’ and then His placement within human beings of a soul which seeks that ‘how’ and that ‘why’ – analogous to the creation of edible things for the ‘sensuous soul’ (nafs-i ḥissī) on a par with the creation, for both [souls] in man perceive flavours in edible things and meanings in things imbued with ‘howness’. The sensuous soul does not grow strong if it eats things from which this taste is lacking; the rational soul does not become knowledgeable if those meanings are absent from things with ‘qualities’, whether seen or heard.⁵⁵ Just as the sensuous soul seeks taste in food and drink, so too does the rational soul seek meaning in seeing and hearing what can be known. The physical world in its entirety, including the rotating spheres and the stars of differing magnitudes, actions, colours, and movements, is wholly imbued with qualities (mukayyafāt-ast). The things of this earth, comprising minerals,⁵⁶ plants, animals with all their species, shapes and forms, flavours and colours, and their varied activities, are imbued with qualities too, and are the subjects of human knowl...