BİRİNCİ FEN · ÜÇÜNCÜ BÂB · ONUNCU FASIL · Yedinci Madde
Seventh Section
Summarily describes the characteristics of humankind, the most noble and beautiful species within the class of living beings.
O esteemed one! Know that philosophers have said: Humankind is the finest variety of living creatures; it is the most honorable of all existence and the essence of the cosmos. It is that which possesses the spoken soul (nefs-i nâtıka) and acts as a mirror (aksettirici).
The soul (nefs-i nâtıka) is a substance distinct from matter in its own creation, yet intertwined with it in its actions. It is the first stage of the natural body, acting as an intermediary, an instrument for perceiving universal matters (umûr-i küllî) and their particular aspects (cüz’iyyât-ı mücerrede), and transforming them into intellectual endeavors.
The spoken soul (nefs-i nâtıka) possesses a faculty of intellect with which it comprehends mental matters (umûr-ı tasavvuriyye) and affirmed actions (umûr-ı tasdîkiyye). This faculty is also called the rational faculty of sight (akl-ı nazarî) or the faculty of vision (kuvvet-i nazariyye). The spoken soul (nefs-i nâtıka) possesses a faculty of action (kuvvet-i âmile) which, in terms of particular actions, moves the human body according to its own view and belief.
The spoken soul (nefs-i nâtıka) has four degrees with respect to its faculty of intellect: The first degree is devoid of all that is comprehended, like a child’s ability to write, possessing capability for all things that can be comprehended. In this rank, it is called the potential intellect (akl-ı heyûlânî). The second degree is the arising of self-evident matters amenable to reason (ma’kulât-ı bedîhiyye), proceeding from the self-evident and leading to thought and theoretical understanding. In this case, they call it the intellect formed by habituation (akl-bi’l-meleke). If the intellect were to realize all theories instantaneously without needing thought, that would be called a holy faculty (kuvvet-i kudsiyye). The third degree is when every matter amenable to reason begins to come to it unthinkingly and is somehow preserved alongside it, and it finds all of them ready at its disposal at the moment it desires. In this rank, the soul is called the intellect in habituation (akl-bi’l-fi’l). The fourth degree is the contemplation of acquired matters amenable to reason by the intellect. They call the soul in this rank absolute intellect.
Only Allah, Exalted and Sublime, knows all living species and their names, natures, forms, characteristics, and conditions. What is written in some books and circulates among tongues is: The species of living beings is eighteen thousand varieties; each variety is a different world. Thus, the total is eighteen thousand worlds. This has been explained to serve as an occasion for reflecting upon and remembering the power and majesty of Allah, Exalted and Sublime, Who brings into being, creates, nurtures, and destroys these endless and countless types and individuals, creating this great world (âlem-i kebîr) and the worlds within it. Further engagement with the boundless seas of our Lord’s wisdom regarding this visible world (âlem-i cismânî), which holds the truths of infinite secrets and is a manifestation of Allah's unique artistry, will be avoided.
The “first emergence” of the cosmos, which is a mirror of the universe, has been completed here. After mentioning the worlds of the spheres and elements that are in the nature of humankind’s envelope and shell, after describing the minerals, plants, and animals that are at humankind's command and service, we have arrived at the science that describes and analyzes the human body and soul, which is the essence of the mirrors of the world and the gateway to the court of the Sultan without a likeness. For the highest desire [105/b] and most sublime aim is to be present in the presence of our Lord. Whereas this is so, neglecting the Creator and being preoccupied with the conditions of the world resembles a slave who, while standing in the sultan’s presence, turns away from the sultan and gazes at the embroidery of the palace.
The following couplets allude to this matter:
Couplet
1- The owner of the house is needed by the household
He who does not know seeks his own ignorant home
2- May you be amazed by the structure of this world;
Come to the courtyard of heart and soul, and survey the cosmos.
Rhyme
1- Gaze upon this revolving order of spheres
Each point has become a circle on earth.
2- Within the circle is the world of possibility;
Within the world are beasts and humankind.
3- The great throne is within man;
The Ka’bah of Allah, that is, the pure heart.
4- Within the heart should be love for the Sublime;
The most beautiful of creators, with glorious attributes.
5- Through Him came into being the world;
Like an endless sea with boundless waves.
6- From a drop He creates man;
He makes him a sea of knowledge at the end.
Rhyme
1- Ignorance and darkness are where to find them? They reside in the insatiable soul.
Where is knowledge and wisdom? They reside within your soul.
2- If you are condemned by the laws of the spheres outwardly,
Inwardly, the moon, sun, and spheres are all commands.
3- In this harvest of the world, you are but a single grain;
On the face of meaning, everything is a harvest.
4- Polish your mirror heart so that you do not look outward;
All the people of the world are in attendance upon yourself.
5- You are a mirror to the Face of God; guard your essence well;
The mines of the secret of "Arafa reside within you.
The visible appears as a single grain; whatever exists in that world is from your substance. Polish the mirror of the heart; cease looking outward. Look to yourself, and all people are respectful towards you. Examine well your own being; you are a reflection of the Divine countenance. The minefield of "He who knows his self knows God" lies within your crucible.
[555]. Üstübec: A pigment used in external paints, essentially lead carbonate.
The formation of oily substances is due to the moistures latent within the earth. When it refines and dissolves through the heat of the mine, mixing with the region's soil, it bakes again with the mine’s heat and becomes a thick oil. Thus, gold ore forms in mountains, in places with soft stone and sand. Silver and its like form in the depths of mountains within stones mixed with soft earth. Sulfur ore forms in wet, humid places with oily soils and soft ground. Salt ores form in hot lands and saline areas. Cass (limestone) ore forms in soft and warm locations. Üstübec ore (isfîdâc) forms in sandy places mixed with lime. Eye-stone (zâc) and lapis lazuli ore form in arid and hard terrains. According to this analogy, each ore is specific to a region; it is known that its formation originates from the earth’s characteristic.
[555]. Üstübec: A pigment used in external paints, essentially lead carbonate.
The science of anatomy – the mirror of bodies – which explains the body and soul's dissection and examination, animal and vegetable forces, sensations, and some states of the human spirit that enter the body, is explained with a wise method over five chapters.
FIRST CHAPTER
It explains the benefits of the science of anatomy (Anatomy), the origins of the body and soul, and their places of transformation, the structures of organs, their humors, the parts of the human body, and their names, and the manifest and hidden qualities of organs in three sections.
FIRST SECTION
It declares the benefits of the science of anatomy (Anatomy), some functions of the animal spirit within the body, the development and transformation places of the human body, the descent and ascent states of the human soul, that the body will decay and the soul remain, and the upbringing of this world which is like a mother, in six items.