Imam Al-Sadiq

called the Books of the prophets fables. They put religion for themselves according to their
ideas and approval, while the things indicate their creation, such as the rotation of the orbit
and what it has; they are seven orbits, the movement of the earth and what is on it, the change
of time...."
Al- Sadiq, peace be on him, had many debates with b. Abu al- 'Awja'.
One of them is as follows:
One day, b. Abu al- 'Awja' and b. al- Muqaffa' were in al- Masjid al-Haram (the Holy Mosque
in Mecca). Bin al- Muqaffa' said: "Look at those people, who are performing the procession a
round the Kaaba. No one of them is worthy of the name of humanity except that Shaykh (he
meant Abu Abd Allah Ja'far al- Sadiq, peace be on him) the rest are mere rabble and beasts.
Bin Abu al- 'Awja' asked him: "Why have you excluded that Shaykh?" Ibin al- Muqaffa'
answered: "Because he has outstanding qualities of which none has." "I must test your
words," bin Abu al- 'Awja' answered. Bin al- Muqaffa' said to him: "Do not do that, for I am
afraid that he will abrogate your beliefs." "This is not your purpose. However, you are afraid
that your opinion will be weak with me when I discover something contrary to his rank which
you have described to me." Bin al- Muqaffa' said: "Do not worry! Go and test him. Beware of
giving free rein to your ideas so as not to overcome you." Ibin Abu Al- 'Awja' went to al-
Sadiq. Then he came back and said: "Bin al- Muqaffa', woe unto you! This is not a human
being." "What has happened to you?" asked b. alMuqaffa'. Bin Abu al- 'Awja' answered: "I
attended his meeting. When there was no one there, he said to me: 'If the matter is according
to what those believe, and it is according to their belief, then they will be saved, while you
will be ruined. And if the matter is according to what you believe, and it is not according to
your belief, then you and they are equal.'" I (Bin Abu al- 'Awja') said: "May Allah have mercy
upon you, what is the difference between their belief and ours? Their beliefand ours is the
same." Al- Sadiq said: "How can your beliefand theirs be the same? They believe in
Resurrection, the reward, the punishment. They believe that the sky has God, and it is
inhabited, while you claim that the sky is destruction and has no one." He (Bin Abu al-
'Awja') said: "So, I seized the opportunity and said to him: 'If the matter is according to their
belief, then what has prevented Him (Allah) from manifesting Himself to His creature to
summon them to worship Him so as no two persons are disagreed on Him? Why has he
hidden Himself from them and sent the messengers to them? If He manifested Himself,
people would believe in Him easily, "al-Sadiq said to me: "Woe unto you! He Who has
shown you His power in yourself, how has He hidden Himself from you? He has created you
while you were nothing, made you grow up while you were a child, made you strong while
you were weak. Now, think of your illness after your health, your health after your illness,
your pleasure after your anger, your anger after your pleasure, your sorrow after your
happiness, your happiness after your sorrow, your love after your hatred, your hatred after
your love.... He (al- Sadiq) went on mentioning Allah's favors which are in myselfand which I
cannot deny. So, I thought that He (Allah) would appear between him (al- Sadiq) and
me."(230)