And if it was not naturally firm, it hold have never ceased shaking. Because the natural condition of every thing always remains immutable. Thus it was proved to the mind that He Who
created and designed the earth shakes any portion of it or not. Again the eye observed another wonderful sign of Allah's existence in the cloud which by His order hangs like smoke over-head
between the Earth and sky. It does not possess a body to collide with mountains.
It passes through trees without shaking or sticking to them. It often passes through caravans, and when it is dark and thick obscures their way. Despite its light appearance it carries vast
quantities of water. Its qualities are beyond description. It carries immense thunderbolts, lightning, snow, hail, dew (congested) so much so that the human imagination cannot fully comprehend
its secrets or its wonders. It soars very high in the regions of skies:- sometimes it is seen in a scattered state.
Sometimes in united position. Its movements depend upon the wind that is regulated by the will of Allah. Through its influence, it sometimes rises high and descends low, not letting of
course quantity of water, it holds, fall down upon the Earth. When it does, it pours down in showers. Many a time we see it passing overhead covering cities, towns and places without letting even
a drop of water fall down. When it has spread over hundreds of miles of land, it begins to rain drop by drop, and sometimes in torrents from the same quantity of water. Sometimes it rains so
continuously that reservoirs, tanks, lanes and rivers overflow, and roads are flooded, and mountains of water seem to stand before the eyes.
Sometimes it rains so violently that the ears get deafened with its roar and thunder. With this rain, Allah revives the dry land, changes its color and clothes it in green verdure, the
grass which is the fodder of beasts, begins to spring up. After it ceases raining, the clouds disperse, and gradually become invisible none can say where they have gone to these observations were
no sooner conveyed to the mind, by the eye, then did the mind begin to reflect over them.
It thought that if these movements and functions of the clouds had come into existence of themselves and were not regulated by any perfect wisdom, it could not have been possible for the
cloud to carry half the weight of water. And that if the cloud poured down the rain by itself it could not have gone further from its place, and it would not have rained drop by drop, but on the
contrary would have poured all the water down all at once on the spot, because it is destitute of intelligence, and cannot foresee the result of raining all at once on the same
spot.
In this case the mind thought that the buildings would have collapsed, vegetable product ruined, one portion of the land would have been over-irrigated, and the other would have been left
dry and barren. Thus thinking, the mind concluded that the creator of all these things must be one and the same. Because had there been more than one say two or three, there must have arisen
differences and disagreements in so long a period with regard to the regularity of these functions.
Some would have been slower than others. Some lofty things would have lowered down, and lower things would have taken higher places some planets. (in contradiction to prescribed rules)
would have risen instead of setting and some set instead of rising. In short, the unity of design, so manifest in the creation, convinced the mind of the fact that the creator of all the obvious
and obscure things and wonders of the universe is He, Who has been existing from all eternity before anything was created.
He is the creator and upholder of the sky, the creator and designer of the Earth, and the creator of all the things I have just mentioned and other things too numerous to enumerate. Again,
the eye observed succession of nights and days following each other with no possible change in the regularity and condition. It saw them merging one into another in regular hours, their
peculiarities of light and darkness, their varying shortness and length.
It saw the stars and planets unaffected by these successions of days and nights, the approach and departure of the different seasons, their commencement and end unvarying. And the mind with
that instinctive sense given to it by Allah-Almighty, realized beyond all doubts, that the creator of all this perfect wisdom must be One Omnipotent, Omniscient, Eternal, Allah. It thought if had
existed more than one creator, each creator would not have considered the other's creation worth anything, and would have tried to excel the others in design. Thus, instead of regularity and
uniformity there would have been disorder and tumult…. Also the ears heard the message of Allah through the apostles, which verified the conclusion of the mind. The ears heard evidence as to
Allah the Creator having neither a wife nor a son nor a partner and the message went to the mind for it to realise the truth".
"What you described said he, "are very wonderful things- Things I had never heard before. Still I hesitate to accept, what you have said, unless you give me some more convincing
proofs.
"We, said I, when you feel yourself unable to refute or find fault with my descriptions, and begin to water in your arguments I am confident your mind will very shortly assure you
InshaAllah (if Allah wishes), of the truth that the senses can know nothing without the help. Now tell me have you ever experienced a dream in which you were eating something and relishing its
pleasant taste "Yes, said he.
"Have you ever dreamt I asked, that you are laughing or weeping bitterly, traveling in known or unknown countries, recognizing those countries you had seen or known Yes he replied, "I had
had many such dreams.
"Have you ever, I asked, "seen in your dreams relatives parent or brothers that had died long ago, and identified them as you did in the life time Why not he exclaimed "I have experienced
many such dreams.
Well then, said I, which of your senses felt the dead man and pointed him out to the mind that it could recognize him and converse with him Which sense relished the food, recognized the
countries known or unknown, through which it traveled? Which sense wept and laughed?" I am confounded he said, "I cannot reply, which of my sense (in this sleeping state) did the above things. In
fact when one is asleep, he is like one dead, and in that condition, it is quite impossible for the senses to feel, know, see or hear anything.
Tell me, asked I, "when startled, you woke from your sleep. Did you not recollect your dream sufficiently to narrate to your relations and friends, forgetting nothing? Yes, he replied.
"Sometimes I have seen a thing in a dream and the same thing again in a waking state.
Alright, said I, which of the senses imbued you with the memory of what you saw when those senses were asleep?
None of the senses, said he "seem to have had any hand therein. Can you not see now said I, "that it is the mind that sees all these things, remembering (in a dreaming state) when all the
senses have ceased working? Don't you know that the mind has been endowed with reason, by means of which Allah establishes His Hujjat?" "What I see in a dream said he, "is unsubstantial like a
Surab' (mirage), which from a distance appears to be real water, but on approach is discovered to be only sand.
"How do you make comparison, when in your dream you relish different tastes? I queried. "Because, he replied, when I approached that 'Surab', I discovered only sand, and when I awoke I
discovered nothing of that which I had seen in dream.
"Well asked I, "if I give you an example of what you may have enjoyed in a dream, and which may have made you uneasy, will you believe in the reality of dreams?"
"Yes, why not? He replied.
"Tell me, said I, "have you ever in a dream lived with a woman familiar or unfamiliar?
Many times, said he.
"Did you not feel then, asked I, "exactly the same sensation derived from the satisfaction of carnal appetite in the waking state, and were not the traces left the same?
"This refutes the argument regarding the 'Surab'. Because the latter is quite unreal-when one approach, it fades away. But here the case is quite contrary. The action in the dream leaves
behind traces to prove the reality of sensation. The dreamer, he said, sees the same things that his senses in a state of wakefulness have witnessed.
Very well, said I, you strengthen my argument, when you admit the mind's ability to comprehend and identify the things of which the senses (no longer working} have no remembrance. Why did
you first assert that the mind even with the help of the senses and in the state of wakefulness has not this power, and that they are the senses only which comprehend all these things? Will you
tell me who (when the senses were out of work) gave this power to mind that has neither ears nor eyes? Because now you admit that it was the mind that saw the woman and enjoyed the pleasure of
her company even though the senses were not at work?"
"It is foolish to admit the knowledge of the mind when the senses are sleeping and to deny it, when the senses are waking. A man of reason must believe that the mind is the king, and prime
administrator of the senses. However foolish he may be, he cannot be ignorant of the fact that the hand cannot extract the eye, nor amputate the tongue, nor can have any senses any power to deal
with any part of the body without its permission, suggestion and contrivance. Allah has created the mind to be the regent of the body, and the body can only feel, see or hear, through its agency.
If the mind conceives retreat, the body can not advance and vice-versa. It is only through its medium the senses work.
They are obedient to its orders. If the mind prohibits them to act, they at once obey its command. It is the mind on which sorrows prey, and joys enliven. Despite the loss or derangement of
the senses, the mind remains intact. But if the mind gets out of order the senses share the same fate, the eyes do not see properly, the ears do not understand, "I scarcely believed, said he,
"that you would be able to deal with these difficult questions without being confounded. Your arguments are so elegant as to appear irrefutable.
"Listen, said I, "and I will more firmly convince you, as to the truth of what I have narrated, and of the things you have seen in your dreams "Do so, he exclaimed, "I am not a little
astounded your eloquence.
"When you think of any calling, asked I, "or devise plans to build or erect something, do you not deliver order to that effect? "Yes, He replied.
"While devising such plans, and forming designs of non-existing things, do you make any of your senses the partner of the mind that creates them? "No. He replied.
"Is it not visible, said I, "that things done in compliance with the mind's mature judgment, are of a high order? (Then is it not proved that it is the mind that knows all the things and
not the senses?).
I think so, he said. But please go on with your arguments. I am now anxious to throw off doubts and accept the truth." So much the better, said I. Tell me if there are any astronomers in
your native place?" You do not seem to be acquainted with the extent of astronomical knowledge possessed by my countrymen." he said. I don't think there is a nation to surpass us in this
particular science.
Well, tell me, asked I, how they acquired this knowledge of astronomy, for this knowledge cannot be acquired through the medium of the senses, but through profound thought and deep
reflection?
Yes, he replied, it is true. Some wise and learned persons prepared tables of such importance, which generation after generation in successive order have followed. When an inquiry is made,
the movements and the positions of the Sun, Moon and Stars are considered. They state which of the visible stars are ill-omened, and which of the invisible ones are auspicious. They are so well
versed in this science that they rarely err in their calculations. People take their children to these astrologers, and they calculating from the movements of the planets, predict events and
incidents occurred or to occur in the child's life.
What concern, I asked, have the movements of planets, with the lives of children that their parents take them to astrologers." Because, he replied, "each child's birth corresponds with a
planet's movement, If this were not so, the astrologers would make mistakes. They calculate the movement-day, month and year-in which the child is born, and are correct in their
conclusions.
If this be really true, said I, You have described a science so wonderful, that none other can be compared to it or more worthy of respect; for the incidents and the accidents of a person's
life from birth to death are known through its means. Do you think the knowledge of this science is an innate one, born with every person?
No, he said, I do not think it is so.
