DÖRDÜNCÜ FASIL · Birinci Madde
Article One
Summarily describes the kinds and powers within the human body, and the origins of actions belonging to the organs.
Esteemed one! It is known that anatomical scholars have said: Powers are understood through actions. For each power has an origin which is an action, and each action arises from a single power. Thus, powers too have been of two kinds: natural powers and volitional (nefsani) powers. And for each of these powers there exists a principal member (azā-i re’isa), which is the source of that power, and actions emanate from it.
The vegetative soul (nafs-i nabāti) is a natural kind encompassing both of the aforementioned types. One type's aim is to protect the body in which it resides through various measures. This type is responsible for nourishment and provides sustenance to the body until its death, imparting freshness to it throughout its life. The liver is the dwelling place and center of its actions. The second type’s aim is to safeguard that very type. This type is responsible for reproduction, separating seminal essence from the mixture of the body, and through it, likenesses are created by God's command and permission. The reproductive organs are the dwelling place and center of its actions.
The animal soul (nafs-i hayawaniyya), a volitional kind, encompasses two types: one is the power of cognition (nev’i müdrike), and the other is the power of movement (nev’i muharrika). The power of cognition is twofold, one external and the other internal. There are five powers that perceive externally – hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch. Within the body there are five that perceive internally: common sense, imagination, intellect, fancy, and memory. The brain is the dwelling place and center of these perceptive faculties. The power of movement is a kind divided into parts according to the places where its movements originate. For each muscle has been created with a different nature. And this type of movement is a movement of vessels, which vibrates the fibers of the body, grasping and releasing, opening and closing, thereby joints are opened and limbs move. The locations and havens of these powers are the nerves adjacent to the muscles. A portion of this motivating (muharrika) power is the force of anger, another portion is desire. Anger is a distress and constriction affecting the animal soul. Desire is a comfort and expansion affecting the animal soul. The heart is the dwelling place and center of movement for anger and desire. In truth, the heart has been accepted as the origin of every power. But the aforementioned centers are places of emergence for the powers and actions described, so each is called a place of emergence. Just as the brain is the center of sensations, yet a separate organ is appointed for each sensation, because the particular action of that sensation emanates from that organ. Yet some actions, such as digesting food, are completed by a single power alone. Others – like the appetite for eating – mature through two powers. For this appetite is completed by a force of attraction (cāziba) and the sense power located at the mouth of the stomach. The vitality of the long fibers activates the force of attraction. The sense power at the entrance to the stomach excites the savor that stimulates appetite, because if an affliction were to befall the senses, hunger and appetite would vanish.
“We glorify the cause of causes and the Lord of Lords, free from all imperfection. His glory is exalted, His power perfect.”