«28»- وَ قَالَ عليه السلام لَا يُلْسَعُ الْعَاقِلُ مِنْ جُحْرٍ مَرَّتَيْنِ.

«28»- And he, peace be upon him, said: The man of intellect is not stung from the same hole twice.

«29»- ف، تحف العقول وَصِيَّةُ مُوسَى بْنِ جَعْفَرٍ عليهما السلام لِهِشَامِ بْنِ الْحَكَمِ وَ صِفَتُهُ لِلْعَقْلِ قَالَ عليه السلام يَا هِشَامُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَبَارَكَ وَ تَعَالَى بَشَّرَ أَهْلَ الْعَقْلِ وَ الْفَهْمِ فِي كِتَابِهِ فَقَالَ فَبَشِّرْ عِبادِ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ أُولئِكَ الَّذِينَ هَداهُمُ اللَّهُ وَ أُولئِكَ هُمْ أُولُوا الْأَلْبابِ ١.

«29»- f, Tuhaf al-'Uqul: The testament of Musa b. Ja'far, peace be upon them both, to Hisham b. al-Hakam, and his description of the intellect. He, peace be upon him, said: Hisham, God, blessed and exalted, gave good tidings to the people of intellect and understanding in His Book, saying: "So give good tidings to My servants who listen to the word and follow the best of it; those are they whom God has guided, and those are the possessors of understanding" (1).

بيان: المراد بالقول إما القرآن أو مطلق المواعظ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ أي إذا رددوا بين أمرين منها لا يمكن الجمع بينهما يختارون أحسنهما و على الأول يحتمل أن يكون المراد بالأحسن المحكمات و يمكن أن يحمل القول على مطلق الكلام إذ ما من قول حق إلا و له ضد باطل فإذا سمعها اختار الحق منهما و على تقدير أن يكون المراد بالقول القرآن أو مطلق المواعظ يمكن إرجاع الضمير إلى المصدر المذكور ضمنا أي يتبعونه أحسن اتباع.

Elucidation: what is meant by "the word" is either the Qur'an or admonitions in general. "And follow the best of it" — that is, when they hesitate between two matters of it which cannot be combined, they choose the better of the two. And upon the first it is possible that what is meant by "the best" is the unambiguous verses. And it is possible to construe "the word" as speech in general, since there is no true saying but that it has a false opposite; so when he hears them he chooses the true of the two. And upon the supposition that what is meant by "the word" is the Qur'an or admonitions in general, it is possible to refer the pronoun to the verbal noun implied within — that is, they follow it with the best following.

يَا هِشَامَ بْنَ الْحَكَمِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ جَلَّ وَ عَزَّ أَكْمَلَ لِلنَّاسِ الْحُجَجَ بِالْعُقُولِ وَ أَفْضَى إِلَيْهِمْ بِالْبَيَانِ وَ دَلَّهُمْ عَلَى رُبُوبِيَّتِهِ بِالْأَدِلَّةِ فَقَالَ وَ إِلهُكُمْ إِلهٌ واحِدٌ لا إِلهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الرَّحْمنُ الرَّحِيمُ إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّماواتِ وَ الْأَرْضِ وَ اخْتِلافِ اللَّيْلِ وَ النَّهارِ وَ الْفُلْكِ الَّتِي تَجْرِي فِي الْبَحْرِ بِما يَنْفَعُ النَّاسَ وَ ما أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ مِنَ السَّماءِ مِنْ ماءٍ فَأَحْيا بِهِ الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِها وَ بَثَّ فِيها مِنْ كُلِّ دَابَّةٍ وَ تَصْرِيفِ الرِّياحِ وَ السَّحابِ الْمُسَخَّرِ بَيْنَ السَّماءِ وَ الْأَرْضِ لَآياتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ ٢.

Hisham b. al-Hakam, God, majestic and mighty, completed for people the proofs by the intellects, and conveyed to them the exposition, and indicated to them His lordship by the evidences. So He said: "And your God is one God; there is no god but He, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate. Surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, and the ships that run in the sea with what profits men, and the water God sends down from heaven wherewith He revives the earth after its death and scatters abroad in it all manner of beast, and the turning about of the winds and the clouds compelled between heaven and earth — surely there are signs for a people who understand" (2).

بيان: المراد بالحجج البراهين أو الأنبياء و الأوصياء عليهم السلام و الاحتجاج و قطع العذر أي أكمل حجته على الناس بما آتاهم من العقول و أفضى إليه أي وصل و الباء للتعدية أي بعد ما أكمل عقلهم ألقى إليهم بيان ما يلزمهم علمه و معرفته و في الكافي و نصر النبيين بالبيان و الأدلة ما بين في كتابه من دلائل الربوبية و الوحدانية أو ما أظهر من آثار صنعته و قدرته في الآفاق و في أنفسهم و الأول أنسب بالتفريع و اختلاف الليل و النهار أي تعاقبهما على هذا النظام المشاهد بأن يذهب أحدهما و يجي ء الآخر

Elucidation: what is meant by the proofs is the demonstrations, or the prophets and the legatees, peace be upon them, and the arguing and the cutting off of excuse — that is, He completed His proof against people by what He gave them of intellects. And afda ilayhi — that is, he reached; and the ba' is for transitivity — that is, after He completed their intellect He cast to them the exposition of what it is incumbent upon them to know and to recognize. And in al-Kafi: "and He aided the prophets by the exposition". And the evidences are what He set out in His Book of the indications of lordship and of oneness; or what He made manifest of the traces of His making and His power in the horizons and in their own souls — and the first is more fitting for the inference. And "the alternation of night and day" — that is, their succeeding one another upon this observed order, in that one of them goes and the other comes