آمر التخصيص إما لكونهم صلوات اللّٰه عليهم مكلفين بما لم يكلف به غيرهم و يتأتى منهم من حق عبادته تعالى ما لا يتأتى من غيرهم أو لاشتراط صحة أعمال العباد بولايتهم و الإقرار بفضلهم بنحو ما مر من التجوز و بهذا التحقيق يمكن الجمع بين

that I command" — the singling out is either because they, God's blessings be upon them, are obligated with what others are not obligated with, and there proceeds from them of the due of His worship, exalted be He, what does not proceed from others; or because the validity of the deeds of the servants is conditional upon allegiance to them and acknowledgement of their excellence, in the manner of the figurative usage that has passed. And by this verification it is possible to reconcile

ما روي عن النبي صلى اللّٰه عليه و آله أول ما خلق اللّٰه نوري.

what has been related from the Prophet — may God bless him and his family — The first thing God created was my light

و بين

and

ما روي أول ما خلق اللّٰه العقل.

what has been related: The first thing God created was the intellect.

و ما روي أول ما خلق اللّٰه النور.

And what has been related: The first thing God created was the light.

إن صحت أسانيدها و تحقيق هذا الكلام على ما ينبغي يحتاج إلى نوع من البسط و الإطناب و لو وفينا حقه لكنا أخلفنا ما وعدناه في صدر الكتاب.

if their chains are sound. And the verification of this discourse as it ought to be requires a kind of expansion and prolixity; and were we to render it its due, we should have broken what we promised at the head of the book.

و أما الخبر الأخير فهو من غوامض الأخبار و الظاهر أن الكلام فيه مسوق على نحو الرموز و الأسرار و يحتمل أن يكون كناية عن تعلقه بكل مكلف و إن لذلك التعلق وقتا خاصا و قبل ذلك الوقت موانع عن تعلق العقل من الأغشية الظلمانية و الكدورات الهيولانية كستر مسدول على وجه العقل و يمكن حمله على ظاهر حقيقته على بعض الاحتمالات السالفة و قوله خلقه ملك لعله بالإضافة أي خلقته كخلقة الملائكة في لطافته و روحانيته و يحتمل أن يكون خلقه مضافا إلى الضمير مبتدأ و ملك خبره أي خلقته خلقة ملك أو هو ملك حقيقة و اللّٰه يعلم.

As for the last report, it is among the obscure of the reports; and it appears that the discourse in it is cast in the manner of symbols and secrets. It is possible that it is a figure for its attaching to every person subject to obligation, and that that attachment has a particular time, and that before that time there are impediments to the attachment of the intellect — of dark coverings and material turbidities — like a veil let down over the face of the intellect. And it is possible to construe it upon the apparent sense of its reality, upon some of the foregoing possibilities. And his words "its creation is an angel" — perhaps it is by way of annexation, that is, its constitution is like the constitution of the angels in its subtlety and its spirituality. And it is possible that "its creation" is annexed to the pronoun as a subject and "an angel" is its predicate — that is, its constitution is the constitution of an angel; or it is an angel in reality. And God knows.

باب 3 احتجاج اللّٰه تعالى على الناس بالعقل و أنه يحاسبهم على قدر عقولهم

Chapter 3: God's argument against mankind by way of the intellect, and that He calls them to account according to their intellects

«1»- ج، الإحتجاج فِي خَبَرِ ابْنِ السِّكِّيتِ ١قَالَ: فَمَا الْحُجَّةُ عَلَى الْخَلْقِ الْيَوْمَ فَقَالَ الرِّضَا عليه السلام الْعَقْلُ تَعْرِفُ بِهِ الصَّادِقَ عَلَى اللَّهِ فَتُصَدِّقُهُ وَ الْكَاذِبَ عَلَى اللَّهِ فَتُكَذِّبُهُ فَقَالَ ابْنُ السِّكِّيتِ هَذَا هُوَ وَ اللَّهِ الْجَوَابُ.

«1»- j, al-Ihtijaj, in the report of Ibn al-Sikkit (1). He said: Then what is the proof against creation today? Al-Rida, peace be upon him, said: The intellect. By it you know the one truthful about God, and so believe him; and the one lying about God, and so disbelieve him. Ibn al-Sikkit said: This, by God, is the answer.

ع، علل الشرائع ن، عيون أخبار الرضا عليه السلام ابن مسرور عن ابن عامر عن أبي عبد اللّٰه السياري عن أبي يعقوب البغدادي ٢عن ابن السكيت مثله ٣.

'a, 'Ilal al-Shara'i'; n, 'Uyun Akhbar al-Rida, peace be upon him: Ibn Masrur, from Ibn 'Amir, from Abu 'Abd Allah al-Sayyari, from Abu Ya'qub al-Baghdadi (2), from Ibn al-Sikkit, the like of it (3).