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Ǥ{Ghayat Al-Hakim}>
Inasmuch as I became a student of this scholar and inasmuch as
I learned from him, I pray to Allah to bestow rest and mercy on
his soul.
I have read two books written by Al-Muqaddim, Plato. The
first is titled The Book of Major Laws, and the second is The Book
of Minor Laws. He presents in the first book some of the ugly
functions of images such as walking on water, the appearance of
snakes in invented images that do not exist in the real world,
causing rain to fall in a non-rainy season and preventing it from
falling in a rainy season, emergence of flames and luminous
meteors, thunder and lightning in the sky, occurrence of out-ofseason
thunderbolts, setting ablaze the ships of the enemy and
burning whomever you wish from a far distance, walking in air,
planets rising in the wrong time and observing them when they
are falling from their position in the sky down to the center of
Earth, talking to the deceased, breaking up of the O and the D
into several pieces, transforming sticks and ropes into snakes
that devour anyone thrown to them and covering long distances
in no time. All of the above actions are the functions of images
and utilizing their spiritual forces and transfusing them in their
static primordial matters. Subsequently, these primordial
matters become live and effective spirits that produce
unprecedented miraculous effects and results. His philosophy
books are replete with images which he urges everyone to know
and pursue. He cites Pythagoras in proving that these images
are similar to these, there are eternal spiritual essences which do
exist, but they are beyond the mind's perception. Plato's book
on minor laws does not match his book on major laws except
one chapter in which he talks about the function of rational as
well as irrational beings. He does deal with this topic in his
major book on laws. Gabir wrote a book called The Compilation,
in which he discusses the function of the rational being.
However, he discusses these functions on the natural level
whereby he seeks to compare them with the functions of nature.
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