«7»- وَ قَالَ الصَّادِقُ عليه السلام مَا كَلَّمَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى اللّٰه عليه و آله الْعِبَادَ بِكُنْهِ عَقْلِهِ قَطُّ قَالَ وَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى اللّٰه عليه و آله إِنَّا مَعَاشِرَ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ أُمِرْنَا أَنْ نُكَلِّمَ النَّاسَ عَلَى قَدْرِ عُقُولِهِمْ.

«7»- And al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, said: The Messenger of God — may God bless him and his family — never spoke to the servants with the full depth of his intellect. He said: And the Messenger of God — may God bless him and his family — said: We, the company of prophets, have been commanded to speak to people according to the measure of their intellects.

بيان: الظاهر أن قوله و قال الصادق عليه السلام إلى آخر الخبر خبر مرسل كما يظهر من الكافي قوله من عبادته بيان لقوله كذا و كذا و كذا خبر لقوله فلان و يحتمل أن يكون متعلقا بمقدر أي فذكرت من عبادته و أن يكون متعلقا بما عبر عنه بكذا و كذا كقوله فاضل كامل فكلمة من بمعنى في أو للسببية و النضارة الحسن و الطهارة هنا بمعناه اللغوي أي الصفاء و اللطافة.

Elucidation: It appears that his words "And al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, said", to the end of the report, are a chainless report, as appears from al-Kafi. His words "of his worship" are an explanation of his words "such and such"; and "such and such" is the predicate of his words "so-and-so". It is possible that it relates to something understood — that is, "and I mentioned of his worship" — and possible that it relates to what was expressed by "such and such", as in his words "excellent, complete". So the word min has the sense of fi, or is causal. Al-nadara is beauty; and al-tahara here is in its lexical sense, that is, purity and delicacy.

و في بعض نسخ الكافي بالظاء المعجمة أي كان جاريا على وجه الأرض و النزاهة البعد عما يوجب القبح و الفساد و الأظهر لنزه كما في الكافي و لعله بتأويل البقعة و العرصة و مثلهما.

And in some copies of al-Kafi it is with the dotted za', that is, it was flowing over the face of the earth. Al-nazaha is remoteness from what entails ugliness and corruption. More evident is li-nazzih, as in al-Kafi; and perhaps it is by way of construing it as the plot, the courtyard and the like.

و في الخبر إشكال من حيث إن ظاهره كون العابد قائلا بالجسم و هو ينافي استحقاقه للثواب مطلقا و ظاهر الخبر كونه مع هذه العقيدة الفاسدة مستحقا للثواب لقلة عقله و بلاهته و يمكن أن يكون اللام في قوله لربنا بهيمة للملك لا للانتفاع و يكون مراده تمني أن يكون في هذا المكان بهيمة من بهائم الرب لئلا يضيع الحشيش فيكون نقصان عقله باعتبار عدم معرفته بفوائد مصنوعات اللّٰه تعالى بأنها غير مقصورة على أكل البهيمة لكن يأبى عنه جواب الملك إلا أن يكون لدفع ما يوهم كلامه أو يكون استفهاما إنكاريا أي خلق اللّٰه تعالى بهائم كثيرا ينتفعون بحشيش الأرض و هذه إحدى منافع خلق الحشيش و قد ترتبت بقدر المصلحة و لا يلزم أن يكون في هذا المكان حمار بل يكفي وجودك و انتفاعك.

And in the report there is a difficulty, in that its apparent sense is that the worshipper held to corporeality, and this is incompatible with his deserving reward at all; whereas the apparent sense of the report is that, with this corrupt belief, he deserved reward on account of the smallness of his intellect and his simplicity. It is possible that the lam in his words "that our Lord had a beast" is for possession and not for benefit, and that what he meant was to wish that there might be in this place a beast from among the beasts of the Lord, so that the grass should not go to waste. In that case the deficiency of his intellect would be by reason of his not knowing the benefits of the things God the Exalted has made — that they are not confined to being eaten by beasts. But the angel's answer resists this, unless it be to ward off what his words might suggest, or unless it be a rhetorical question of denial — that is, God the Exalted has created many beasts that profit from the grass of the earth, and this is one of the benefits of creating grass, and they have been ordered according to the measure of the good. It is not required that there be an ass in this place; rather your existence and your profiting suffice.

و يحتمل أن يكون اللام للاختصاص لا على محض المالكية بأن يكون لهذه البهيمة اختصاص بالرب تعالى كاختصاص بيته به تعالى مع عدم حاجته إليه و يكون جواب الملك أنه لا فائدة في مثل هذا الخلق حتى يخلق اللّٰه تعالى حمارا و ينسبه إلى مقدس جنابه تعالى كما في البيت فإن فيه حكما كثيرة.

And it is possible that the lam is for particular relation, not for mere ownership — such that this beast should have a particular relation to the Lord, exalted be He, as His House has a particular relation to Him, exalted be He, notwithstanding His having no need of it. And the angel's answer would then be that there is no benefit in such a creation, that God the Exalted should create an ass and ascribe it to His sacred presence, as is the case with the House — for in that there are many wise purposes.

و على التقادير لا بد إما من ارتكاب تكلف تام في الكلام أو التزام فساد بعض

And on all these suppositions one must either undertake a thorough forced construction of the words, or else accept the falsity of some