Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 2 (of 6)
General
Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 2 (of 6)
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
There are four great points of dispute amongst the schoolmen in
Al-Islam; (1) the Unity and Attributes of Allah; (2) His promises and
threats; (3) historical as the office of Imám; and (4) Predestination
and the justice thereof. On the latter subject opinions range over the
whole cycle of possibilities. For instance, the Mu’tazilites, whom the
learned Weil makes the Protestants and Rationalists of Al-Islam,
contend that the word of Allah was created _in subjecto, ergò_, an
accident and liable to perish, and one of their school, the Kádiriyah
(= having power) denies the existence of Fate and contends that Allah
did not create evil but left man an absolutely free agent. On the
other hand, the Jabariyah (or Mujabbar = the compelled) is an absolute
Fatalist who believes in the omnipotence of Destiny and deems that all
wisdom consists in conforming with its decrees. Al-Mas’udi (chapt.
cxxvii) illustrates this by the saying of a Moslem philosopher that
chess was the invention of a Mu’tazil, while Nard (backgammon with
dice) was that of a Mujabbar proving that play can do nothing against
destiny. Between the two are the Ashariyah; trimmers whose stand-point
is hard to define; they would say, “Allah creates the power by which
man acts, but man wills the action,” and care not to answer the query,
“Who created the will?” (See Pocock, Sale and the Dabistan ii. 352).
Thus Sa’adi says in the Gulistan (iii. 2), “The wise have pronounced
that though daily bread be allotted, yet it is so conditionally upon
using means to acquire it, and although calamity be predestined, yet
it is right to secure oneself against the portals by which it may have
access.” Lastly, not a few doctors of Law and Religion hold that Kaza
al-Muhkam, however absolute, regards only man’s after or final state;
and upon this subject they are of course as wise as other people,
and—no wiser. Lane has treated the Moslem faith in Destiny very ably
and fully (Arabian Nights, vol. i. pp. 58–61), and he being a man of
moderate and orthodox views gives valuable testimony.
Footnote 129:
Arab. “Shaykh al-Hujjáj.” Some Santon like Hasan al-Marábit, then
invoked by the Meccan pilgrims: see Pilgrimage, i. 321. It can hardly
refer to the famous Hajjáj bin Yúsuf al-Sakafí (vol. iv. 3).
Footnote 130:
Here the Stories of the Sixteen Constables abruptly end, after the
fashion of the Bresl. Edit. They are summarily dismissed even without
the normal “Bakhshísh.”
Footnote 131:
Bresl. Edit. vol. xi. pp. 400–473 and vol. xii. pp. 4–50, Nights
dccccxli-dcccclvii. For Kashghar, see vol. i. 255.
Footnote 132:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account