BİRİNCİ FEN · ÜÇÜNCÜ BÂB · ONUNCU FASIL · Üçüncü Madde
**Article Three**
Concerning how a person's temperament changes with age.
Beloved! Know that the anatomists have said: The temperaments of ages differ, and all phases of life are divided into four categories. Firstly, there are the years of growth and development (sinn-i nümüvv), which are also called the years of newness and freshness (sinn-i hadâset). This period lasts up to thirty years. Secondly, there are the years of settling and stability (sinn-i vukuf), also known as the years of youth. Its duration extends to forty years. Following this is a period of gradual decline and decay, which is termed the years of maturity. This lasts until sixty years of age. Subsequently comes a period of pronounced decline and decay, called the years of old age and infirmity. This continues until the end of life.
The years of newness and freshness are divided into two parts: one is childhood, lasting up to fifteen years; the other is early manhood, continuing until the end of that phase. The temperament of a child is balanced, while the temperament of a young man is warm and moist. The temperaments of youths are warm and fiery. After the passing of the years of settling and stability (sinn-i vukuf), the natural heat’s substance—natural moisture—begins to diminish as it is drawn away by the air that surrounds us. For, as mentioned in the previous section, all bodily forces and parts are finite. They constantly cool and weaken to replace what has deteriorated. However, as decay increases daily, the gain does not equal the expenditure; [110/a] the moisture replacing what is lost does not compensate for it. Consequently, because the body’s natural moisture diminishes through loss and differs from what replaces it, the body's natural heat disappears – this is natural death. Thus, a person’s natural lifespan is proportionate to the strength of their primary temperament in preserving its moisture. If they do not encounter an external accident, that is their natural duration of life.
For, by the power of God, the celestial bodies (ecrâm-i ulviye) have continuous and ongoing effects on worldly beings, so the forms and conditions, dispositions, and ranks of all created things are shaped by the fortunate destiny they encounter while still in their mother’s womb—all stemming from these influences. When a drop (nutfe) enters the mother's womb, the fortune or misfortune of both parents is imprinted upon its essence, and the stars to which each looks determine happiness or ill-fortune. For example, goodness and wickedness, understanding and foolishness, miserliness and generosity, fear and courage, love and hatred, greed and contentment, noble character and baseness, poverty and wealth, ease and hardship, life and death, beauty and maturity, weariness and fatigue—whatever state exists is born within that drop. For that drop is the preserved tablet (levh-i mahfuz) of the developing fetus; and the preserved tablet is a manifestation of this world. Therefore, the fortunate one finds their fortune in the womb, and the unfortunate one finds their misfortune in the womb. As the Most Noble Prophet (s.a.v.) has expressed with a sign: “The truly blessed are those who are blessed in their mother’s womb; the truly wretched are those who are wretched in their mother's womb.” [562] This conveys an indication of how everyone’s destiny is influenced as mentioned above. For all forms, qualities, and mixtures of people have differed within their mothers' wombs according to the positions of the stars. Consequently, their appointed times of death (ecel-i müsemmâları) are also decreed differently in accordance with their temperaments. In essence, it is observed that the bodies of children and young men are balanced, warm, and moist. The bodies of youths are intensely fiery. The bodies of adults and the elderly have been found to be cold and dry, distant from the spiritual vapor and hot blood—as explained above. However, it has been determined that women’s temperaments are colder and more humid than those of men.
“God, who fashions the form perfectly, gives life, causes death, is eternally alive, whose majesty has no limit, and whose blessings reach all – He is free from every imperfection. There is no god but Him.” [563]