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

shows it to him by way of revelation, arid the same is the
case with the man who has visions in his sleep, which he
only sees because God or an angel inspires them in him?
We do riot need any of the things you have related, and you
have not the slightest proof for introducing the Holy Law by
mentioning the Tablet and the Pen; for true believers do not
in the least understand by ‘the Tablet’ and ‘the Pen’ what
you have mentioned, and the way to embrace the religious
dogmas is not to refuse to admit them in the way they must
be understood. ‘ And, although the possibility of what you
have said is granted, so long as you cannot indicate why you
deny the correctness of the sense in which these religious
terms are understood, the reality of what you say- cannot be
known or verified. Indeed, the only way to arrive at
knowledge of such things is through the Holy Law, not by
reason. The rational proofofwhat you have said is primarily
based on many premisses, the refutation of which need not
detain us, but we shall limit ourselves to the discussion of
three propositions.
The first proposition is that you say that the movement of
heaven is voluntary, and we have already settled this
problem and shown the futility of your claim.
If; however, to oblige you the grant you this voluntary
movement, the second proposition is your saying that
heaven needs a particular representation for each particular
movement, and this we do not concede. For according to
you there are no parts in the sphere, which is one single
thing and is only divided in imagination; nor are there
particular movements, for there is only one continuous
movement, and in order to complete all the places possible
for it, it is sufficient for the sphere to desire this one
movement, as you have indicated yourselves, and it will only
need universal representation and a universal will.
Let us give ail example of the universal and the particular
will to make the intention of the philosophers clear. When,
for instance, a man has a universal aim to make the
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