Imam Al-Sadiq

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Al- Ihlilja (myrobalan):
This kind of Oneness (of Allah) has been called al- Ihlilja (myrobalan), for al- Sadiq, peace be
on him, debated with an Indian doctor in whose hand there was a myrobalan (Ihlilja). That
was because al- Mufaddal b. 'Amr wrote a letter to al- Sadiq that some followers of the
religion began to renounce Allah and they produced evidence for that, and he asked him to
answer their claims and to produce evidence for them in the same manner he followed to
refute the claims of those who were before them.
So, al- Sadiq wrote a letter to al- Mufaddal. In the letter he denoted as follows: "I have
received your letter, so I have sent you, in my letter, a debate which I made with some people
of the other thoughts, who have renounced Allah: An Indian doctor came to me frequently.
The doctor debated me. One day, while he was powdering a myrobalan (Ihlilija) to make a
medicine for me, he debated with me. Among his claims is that the world has been one tree
grows and another dies, and one person is born and another dies. Also he claimed that I have
no evidence for my knowledge which I have taken from Allah. He claimed that the later
generations took knowledge from the earlier ones, and the young took it from the old, and the
different things, the harmonious ones, the hidden things, and the apparent ones are all known
through the five senses- sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Then he led his thinking
according to the origin he established. He (the doctor) said: 'No one of my senses has fallen
on a creator leading my heart to deny Allah, the Exalted.'
Then he said: 'Tell me, what is your evidence for the recognition of your Lord whose divinity
and power you have described, for the heart knows all things through the proof (i.e. the
senses) I have described to you?'
I (al- Sadiq) said: 'Through the reason in my heart and the evidence I produce for His
(Allah's) recognition'. He said: 'How does what you say happen, and you know that the heart
knows nothing but through the senses? Have you heard His Words with your ear? Have you
smelt him with your nose? Have you tasted him with your mouth? And have you touched him
with your hand? Have you used all these senses to establish knowledge in your heart?'
I (the author) said: 'You have renounced Allah, for you have claimed that you cannot feel him
with your senses with which you know things, while I have believed in him. Then, do you
think that one of us is right and the other is wrong?' He said: 'No.' I said: 'Do you worry a bout
me because of the things which I uses to make you afraid of the punishment of Allah?' 'No,'
he said. I said: 'Do you think that I will be safe of Allah's punishment because I have believed
in him, while you will suffer His punishment because of your unbelief and denial?' 'Yes,' he