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The_Savior_from_Spiritual_Error_and_50_Principles, page : 123
Many have been deceived by them; and the deceit is even greater because of
the ineffectiveness of the criticism leveled against the philosophers, since that
consisted, as we have shown above, in denying geometry and logic and
others of their sciences which possess necessary truth.
I observed, then, to what an extent and for what reasons faith was weak
among the various classes of men; and I observed how I myself was occupied
with resolving this doubt, indeed I had devoted so much time and energy to
the study of their sciences and methods, I mean those of the mystics, the
philosophers, the `authoritarian instructionists‟ (ta`limiya), and the outstanding
scholars (mutawassimun), that to show up their errors was easier for me than
drinking water. As I observed all this, the impression was formed in me: `That
is a fixed and determinate character of this time; what benefit to you, then, are
solitude and retirement, since the sickness has become general, the doctors
have fallen ill, and mankind has reached the verge of destruction?‟ I said to
myself, however: `When will you busy yourself in resolving these difficulties
and attacking these obscurities, seeing it is an age of slackness, in an era of
futility? Even if you were to summon men from their worthless ways to the
truth, the people of this age would be united in showing hostility against you.
the ineffectiveness of the criticism leveled against the philosophers, since that
consisted, as we have shown above, in denying geometry and logic and
others of their sciences which possess necessary truth.
I observed, then, to what an extent and for what reasons faith was weak
among the various classes of men; and I observed how I myself was occupied
with resolving this doubt, indeed I had devoted so much time and energy to
the study of their sciences and methods, I mean those of the mystics, the
philosophers, the `authoritarian instructionists‟ (ta`limiya), and the outstanding
scholars (mutawassimun), that to show up their errors was easier for me than
drinking water. As I observed all this, the impression was formed in me: `That
is a fixed and determinate character of this time; what benefit to you, then, are
solitude and retirement, since the sickness has become general, the doctors
have fallen ill, and mankind has reached the verge of destruction?‟ I said to
myself, however: `When will you busy yourself in resolving these difficulties
and attacking these obscurities, seeing it is an age of slackness, in an era of
futility? Even if you were to summon men from their worthless ways to the
truth, the people of this age would be united in showing hostility against you.