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another and one branch leads to another. Only the person who would observe
this order would succeed.

The eighth duty is to know how to ascertain the noble nature of this or the other
science. By this is meant two things; the nobility of its fruit and the authenticity of
its principles. Take for example the science of religion and that of medicine. The
fruit of the one is eternal life and the fruit of the other is the physical life;
consequently the science of religion is the nobler; or again the science of
arithmetic and astrology; the former is the nobler because of the firmer and more
authentic foundations of its principles. If on the other hand arithmetic should be
compared with medicine the latter would be the nobler with respect to its fruit
while with respect to its principles arithmetic would be the nobler. The fruit,
however, has the priority. For this reason medicine, although mostly guesswork,
is nobler.


The ninth duty is that the student‟s purpose should, at the time, be the adornment
and beautification of his inner self with virtue, and at the end, nearness to Allah
and ascent to the neighborhood of the heavenly hosts, the angels and the