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باب اقتضاء التكليف المجازاة
Four aspects - and two of them run even before a prophet comes
The link: the mabḥath's own title is في أسبابِ التكليفِ والمجازاةِ. Bābs 6 and 7 completed the first half - where obligation comes from. This bāb opens the second: where recompense comes from. And its very first aspect takes bāb 7's grass-and-flesh example and applies it to man.
The real point: the bāb is an ordered answer to an old question: what of those whom a prophet's call never reached? The answer falls out of the fourfold division. The aspects that are فطرة (the specific structure and the highest council) run in every age, but their scope is the roots only - not the branches and limits. The aspect that changes with the age (the prescribed law) is itself the reason for the sending. And the aspect that depends on the sending runs only after ﴿ليهلكَ من هلكَ عن بيّنةٍ﴾. That is: the sphere of recompense and the sphere of proof widen together.
The mabḥath's title names two things: أسبابِ التكليفِ and المجازاةِ. The last two bābs were on the first. Now the second:
اعلمْ أن الناسَ مجزيّونَ بأعمالِهم، إن خيراً فخيرٌ، وإن شراً فشرٌّ، من أربعةِ وجوهٍ.
Stop at the word وجوه. The bāb does not say there are four kinds of recompense, but that it comes by four routes - four distinct mechanisms arriving at one result. And the real use of the division opens at the bāb's end, when he says which of them runs when.
The first aspect takes up bāb 7's example directly - the same grass and flesh - and applies it to man:
أحدُها مقتضى الصورةِ النوعيةِ: فكما أن البهيمةَ إذا عُلِفَتِ الحشيشَ، والسبعَ إذا عُلِفَ اللحمَ صحَّ مزاجُهما، وإذا عُلِفَتِ البهيمةُ اللحمَ، والسبعُ الحشيشَ فسدَ مزاجُهما - فكذلك الإنسانُ إذا باشرَ أعمالاً أرواحُها الخشوعُ بجانبِ الحقِّ، والطهارةُ والسماحةُ والعدالةُ صلحَ مزاجُه المَلَكيُّ، وإذا باشرَ أعمالاً أرواحُها أضدادُ هذه الخِصالِ فسدَ مزاجُه المَلَكيُّ.
So recompense here is no verdict of a court - it is the effect of a diet. Feed flesh to cattle and nobody punishes them; their temperament is ruined, and that is the penalty. In the same way, acts whose "spirit" is humility, purity, generosity and justice are food for the angelic temperament; and their contraries are to it what flesh is to the ox.
And when is it felt?
فإذا تخفَّفَ عن ثِقلِ البدنِ أحسَّ بالملاءمةِ والمنافرةِ، شِبهَ ما يُحِسُّ أحدُنا من ألمِ الاحتراقِ.
The second aspect begins from a very bold comparison:
وثانيها جهةُ الملأِ الأعلى: فكما أن الواحدَ منها له قوىً إدراكيةٌ مُودَعةٌ في الدماغِ يُحِسُّ بها ما وقعت عليه قدمُه من جَمرةٍ أو ثَلجةٍ، فكذلك بصورةِ الإنسانِ المتمثِّلةِ من الملكوتِ خُدّامٌ من الملائكةِ أوجدَها عنايةُ الحقِّ بنوعِ الإنسانِ، لأن نوعَ الإنسانِ لا يَصلُحُ إلا بهم، كما أن الواحدَ منا لا يَصلُحُ إلا بالقوةِ الإدراكيةِ.
The proportion is: the human species : angels :: one individual : his perceptive faculties. And it does not stay a mere comparison - the text turns it round and states it outright: وأفرادُ الإنسانِ كلُّها بمنزلةِ القوى الطبيعيةِ لهذه الملائكةِ. The whole species is like a body, individuals its natural faculties, and the angels its perceptive ones. In bāb 7 this same proportion was given as the reason for the highest council's existence; here it becomes the mechanism of recompense.
فكلَّما فعلَ فردٌ من أفرادِ الإنسانِ فعلاً مُنجياً خرجت من تلك الملائكةِ أشعةُ بهجةٍ وسرورٍ، وكلَّما فعلَ فعلاً مُهلِكاً خرجت منها أشعةُ نفرةٍ وبُغضٍ، فحلَّت تلك الأشعةُ في نفسِ هذا الفردِ فأورثت بهجةً أو وَحشةً، أو في نفوسِ بعضِ الملائكةِ أو بعضِ الناسِ، فانعقدَ الإلهامُ أن يُحبّوه ويُحسِنوا إليه، أو يُبغِضوه ويُسيئوا إليه.
Notice that the rays can fall in three places: in that individual's own soul (producing gladness or desolation), or in the souls of some angels, or in the souls of some people - and then فانعقدَ الإلهامُ, the prompting is settled that they should love him and treat him well, or hate him and treat him ill. So "how people behave toward him" is itself one route of this system.
And after this the text gives a detail that is medical and deliberately unveiled:
فكما أن الواحدَ منا قد يتوقَّعُ ألماً أو ذُلاًّ فترتعدُ فرائصُه، ويَصفَرُّ لونُه، ويَضعُفُ جسدُه، وربما تسقُطُ شهوتُه، ويحمَرُّ بولُه … فهذا كلُّه تأثيرُ القوةِ الإدراكيةِ في الطبيعةِ ووحيُها إليها وقهرُها عليها.
The news of fear is in the mind, and the effect on the body: trembling, pallor, weakness. And the text names that effect with three words: تأثير, وحي, قهر. m - because in the next line the same word will be applied to the relation of angels and men: يترشَّحُ منها عليهم … إلهاماتٌ جِبِلّيةٌ وحالاتٌ طبيعيةٌ. What perception does to its own nature, the angels do to the species.
And now the other half of the circuit - the half that ascends:
وكما تهبطُ تلك الأشعةُ إلى السُّفلِ فكذلك يصعَدُ إلى حظيرةِ القدسِ منها لونٌ يُعِدُّ لفيضانِ هيئةٍ تُسمّى بالرحمةِ والرضا، أو الغضبِ واللعنِ، مِثْلَ إعدادِ مجاورةِ النارِ الماءَ لتسخينِه، وإعدادِ المقدّماتِ للنتيجةِ، وإعدادِ الدعاءِ للإجابةِ.
﴿إِنَّ اللهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ حَتَّى يُغَيِّرُوا مَا بِأَنْفُسِهِمْ﴾
And finally support from transmission: in several hadiths the Prophet reported that the angels raise the deeds of the children of Adam to God, and God asks them كيف تركتم عبادي؟, and that the day's deed is raised before the night's -
يُنبِّهُ ﷺ على ضربٍ من توسُّطِ الملائكةِ بين بني آدمَ وبين نورِ اللهِ القائمِ وسطَ حظيرةِ القدسِ.
Plate I
The circuit of rays - from act to “renewal”
فيتحقَّقُ التجدُّدُ في الجبروتِ من هذا الوجهِ - "from this aspect", that is, from the side of preparation. As nearness to fire prepares water for heating.
This is the mechanism of the second aspect, in the text’s own words. The descending أشعة and the ascending لون - and what happens above is إعداد, preparation, according to all three similes.
The third aspect is stated through a comparison that demands careful reading:
وثالثها مقتضى الشريعةِ المكتوبةِ عليهم: فكما يعرفُ المُنجِّمُ أن الكواكبَ إذا كان لها نظرٌ من النظراتِ حصلت روحانيةٌ ممتزجةٌ من قواها متمثِّلةٌ في جزءٍ من الفلكِ … فكذلك يعرفُ العارفُ باللهِ أنه إذا جاء وقتٌ من الأوقاتِ تُسمّى في الشرعِ بالليلةِ المباركةِ التي فيها يُفرَقُ كلُّ أمرٍ حكيمٍ حصلت روحانيةٌ في الملكوتِ ممتزجةٌ من أحكامِ نوعِ الإنسانِ ومُقتضى هذا الوقتِ.
And then that spirituality's effect: يترشَّحُ من هنالك إلهاماتٌ على أذكى خلقِ اللهِ يومئذٍ - promptings upon the keenest of God's creatures at that time; then, through him, upon the souls next to him in keenness; then the rest of the people are prompted to accept and approve those promptings.
النظراتُ هي القِراناتُ، كما تقدَّمَ قريباً.
The fourth aspect is the briefest, but its composition is interesting:
ورابعها أن النبيَّ إذا بُعِثَ في الناسِ، وأرادَ اللهُ تعالى ببعثِه لُطفاً بهم وتقريباً لهم إلى الخيرِ، وأوجبَ طاعتَه عليهم - صار العلمُ الذي يُوحى إليه متشخِّصاً متمثِّلاً، وامتزجَ بهِمَّةِ هذا النبيِّ ودعائِه وقضاءِ اللهِ تعالى بالنصرِ له، فتأكَّدَ وتحقَّقَ.
Three things dissolve into one: the revealed knowledge (now individuated and given form), the prophet's resolve and supplication, and the decree of his victory. And the result in two words: فتأكَّدَ وتحقَّقَ. So in this aspect recompense draws its force from the prophet's personal participation - which is why this aspect is possible only after the sending.
Four mechanisms have been described. Now the bāb does what the division was built for - it says which aspect runs when.
أما المجازاةُ في الوجهينِ الأولينِ ففِطرةٌ فطرَ اللهُ الناسَ عليها، ولن تجدَ لفطرةِ اللهِ تبديلاً، وليس ذلك إلا في أصولِ البِرِّ والإثمِ وكلياتِها دون فروعِها وحدودِها. وهذه الفطرةُ هي الدينُ الذي لا يختلفُ باختلافِ الأعصارِ، والأنبياءُ كلُّهم مُجمِعونَ عليه.
Two qualifications come together, and both are necessary. One - this is fiṭra, and لن تجدَ لفطرةِ اللهِ تبديلاً; so it runs in every age. Two - but only in أصولِ البِرِّ والإثمِ وكلياتِها, دون فروعِها وحدودِها: in the roots and universals, not the branches and limits. And the proof from Qur'an and hadith:
﴿إِنَّ هَذِهِ أُمَّتُكُمْ أُمَّةً وَاحِدَةً﴾
الأنبياءُ بنو عَلّاتٍ: أبوهم واحدٌ، وأمهاتُهم شتّى.
بنو عَلّات means children of one father by different mothers. The prophets' root is one and their laws are many - which is exactly the division just made: the roots one, the branches and limits various. m
And then the sentence that is this bāb's largest juristic and theological result:
والمؤاخذةُ على هذا القدرِ متحقِّقةٌ قبل بعثةِ الأنبياءِ وبعدها سواءٌ.That is, to this extent - in the roots of right and wrong - accountability holds equally before the sending of the prophets and after. This is a question long argued among the theologians; the bāb draws its answer out of its own fourfold division rather than by laying down a separate principle.
أصولُ البِرِّ أربعةٌ: التوحيدُ، والإيمانُ بصفاتِ اللهِ تعالى، والإيمانُ بالقدرِ، والإيمانُ بأن … انظر المبحثَ الخامسَ من القسمِ الأولِ.
The footnote fixes that scope by counting it, and refers forward to a later mabḥath. m
The other two aspects are ruled differently:
وأما المجازاةُ بالوجهِ الثالثِ فمختلفةٌ باختلافِ الأعصارِ، وهي الحاملةُ على بعثِ الأنبياءِ والرسلِ.
وأما المجازاةُ بالوجهِ الرابعِ فلا تكونُ إلا بعد بعثةِ الأنبياءِ، وكشفِ الشُبهةِ، وصحةِ التبليغِ.
The third aspect changes with the ages - and it is what "carries" to the sending of prophets and messengers, that is, its cause. And the fourth runs only after three conditions: the sending, the removal of doubt, and the soundness of the conveying. For which, the verse:
﴿لِيَهْلِكَ مَنْ هَلَكَ عَنْ بَيِّنَةٍ وَيَحْيَى مَنْ حَيَّ عَنْ بَيِّنَةٍ﴾
Plate II
Four aspects - and the time of each
The last line of each branch (in red) is the ranking: the first two فطرة - before the sending too; the third changing with the age and the cause of the sending; the fourth after it.
"Recompense is an external reward or penalty." - the first aspect is the opposite: مقتضى الصورةِ النوعيةِ. Nobody punishes the ox for being fed flesh; its temperament is ruined, and that is the outcome. The "spirits" of acts are the food or the poison of the angelic temperament. And remember bāb 6's anaesthetic: the effect is present now, the perceiving later.
"There is no accountability before the sending." - the text is explicit: والمؤاخذةُ على هذا القدرِ متحقِّقةٌ قبل بعثةِ الأنبياءِ وبعدها سواءٌ. But do not drop the qualification "to this extent": only أصولِ البِرِّ والإثمِ وكلياتِها, دون فروعِها وحدودِها. Excess is possible on both sides - neither is everything established by fiṭra, nor is there no responsibility before the sending.
Do not read التجدُّد في الجبروت as change in the divine attributes. The text states it through إعداد, and all three similes turn on that: nearness to fire prepares the water; premises prepare for a conclusion; supplication prepares for an answer. In every one, what changes is the receiver. And the verse runs the same way: حتى يُغيِّروا ما بأنفسِهم. The phrase من هذا الوجهِ ("from this aspect") is a qualification; drop it and the whole sentence changes meaning.
The astrologer comparison does not make the stars agents. The sentence is built as فكما يعرفُ المُنجِّمُ … فكذلك يعرفُ العارفُ باللهِ - the comparison is of how one knows. And the time is fixed by the law's own term (الليلة المباركة). Read it together with bāb 4, where both the prohibition of astrology and the refusal to deny properties in the stars stand side by side.
"The angels are like our perceptive faculties" - watch the direction of the comparison. The proportion is with the species, not the individual: وأفرادُ الإنسانِ كلُّها بمنزلةِ القوى الطبيعيةِ. The whole species is one body, individuals its natural faculties, the angels its perceptive ones. Carry it down to the individual and the comparison breaks.
This bāb opens the mabḥath's second half. The title is في أسبابِ التكليفِ والمجازاةِ; bābs 6 and 7 completed obligation, this bāb begins recompense. The bābs that follow (the differing of natures, the causes of passing thoughts, the clinging of deeds to the soul) all fall within this frame.
This bāb's Arabic is from the scan of Palanpuri's edition, checked against the Shamela digital text.
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