Tahafut_al-Tahafut-transl-Engl-van-den-Bergh

own existence and they do not need them, it is absolutely evident to him
that these acts have been prescribed and ordered to them and that they
have a leader who has obliged them in his everlasting service to act
continually for the good of others. This leader is the highest among them
in power and rank and they are, as it were, his submissive slaves. And this
is the meaning to which the Venerable Book refers in the words: ‘Thus did
we show Abraham the kingdom of heaven. and the earth that he should
be of those who are safe. ‘ And when man observes still another thing,
namely, that all the seven planets in their own special movements are
subservient to their universal daily motion and that their own bodies as
parts of the whole are submissive to the universal body, as if they were all
one in fulfilling this service, he knows again with absolute certainty that
each planet has its own commanding principle, supervising it as a deputy
of the first Commander. Just as, in the organization of armies, l where
each body of troops has one commander, called a centurion, each
centurion is subordinate to the one Commander-in-chief of the army, so
also in regard to the movements of the heavenly bodies which the
ancients observed. They number somewhat more than forty, of which
seven or eight’-for the ancients disagreed about this -dominate the others
and themselves depend on the first Commander, praise be to Him! Man
acquires this knowledge in this way, whether or not lie knows how the
principle of the creation of these heavenly bodies acts, or what the
connexion is between the existence of these commanders and the first
Commander. In any case lie does not doubt that, if these heavenly bodies
existed by themselves, that is, if they were eternal and had no cause, they
might refuse to serve their own commanders or might not obey them, and
the commanders might refuse to obey the first Commander. But, since it is
not possible for them to behave in this way, the relation between them and
the first Commander is determined by absolute obedience, and this means
nothing more than that they possess this obedience in the essence of their
being, not accidentally, as is the case in the relation between master and
servant. Servitude, therefore, is not something additional to their essence,
but these essences subsist through servitude and this is the meaning of
the Divine Words: ‘There is none in the heavens or the earth but comes to
the Merciful as a servant. And their possession is the kingdom of the
heavens and the earth which God showed to Abraham, as it is expressed
in the Devine Words: ‘Thus did we show Abraham the kingdom of heaven
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