The Devils Deception by Imam Ibn AL-Jawzi

T H E D E V I L ' S
D E C E P T I O N S
feel sorry because my deceased son never read the book al­
Shukiik (Doubts). Abu al-Hudhayl inquired: What is this book
al-Shukiik? He answered: It is a book that I wrote so that
whoever reads it doubts everything that takes place to the point
of thinking that it did not happen, and to doubt that which
did not happen to believe that it did happen. Al-Naqqam interceded:
Then doubt that your son has died, and behave accordingly.
And doubt that he might have read the book even
if he had not read it.
Abu'l-Qasim al-BalkhI said that a Sophist came to debate a
Mutakallim (practitioner of deductive reasoning). Then the Sophist
went out to look for his ride and found that it was missing. So he
went back inside saying: My ride was stolen. The Mutakallim said:
Perhaps you did not come riding?
He responded: Yes I did.
The Mutakallim said: Try to think in order to make sure of that.
The Sophist replied: I am certain of this.
He said: Try to remember.
The Sophist said: There is no room or remembering. I have no
doubt that I came riding.
So the Mutakallim said: Then how could you claim that there is
no reality to things? And that an awake person and a sleeping
person are the same?
So the Sophist had no answer and reverted away from his doctrine.
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