'Obeyd-e Zakani The Ethics of the Aristocrats, translated by Hasan Javadi (Chapter One)

 

Chapter One

On Wisdom

The Abrogated Practice

 

Wise men have thus defined Divine Wisdom: "It aims at the perfection of the human soul in its powers of learning and practice. The former is to know the nature of things as they are, and the latter is to attain a spiritual capacity to enable one to accomplish good deeds and avoid works of evil, and this is called ethics."1 This is to say that two faculties are concentrated in a rational being, and his perfection depends on their perfection. One is the faculty of speculation and the other, that of practice. The speculative faculty is that which yearns to acquire learning and knowledge by virtue of which it will obtain the capacity for knowing things as they truly are. Thus man will be ennobled by knowledge of the True Goal and the Ultimate Aim (may He be exalted and sanctified), which is the destiny of all beings, and being guided by such a knowledge, he may attain the World of Oneness or perhaps the Station of Union to assuage and soothe his heart.2 "Verily with the invocation of God's name hearts become tranquil"3 and the dust of doubt and the rust of uncertainty are rubbed from the mirror of his thought. The poet has said:

 

Wherever certitude has arrived, doubt has fled.

 

The faculty of practice correlates one's power and deeds in such a way that they harmonize with each other, so that as a result of this harmony and balance one's character becomes worthy of praise. If a man combines knowledge and practice to this extent, he is called a perfect man and the deputy of God on the earth, and his rank will be highest amongst mankind. As God Almighty has said: "He bestows wisdom on whomever He will, and he who is given wisdom has been given a great blessing,"4 and after departure from the body his soul will be fit for everlasting happiness, eternal bounty, and Divine grace.

 

This is the work of Fate

May it fall upon whom it will.

 

So far we have been discussing the ways of the ancients and the wise The Adopted Practice When the great and wise men whose existence honors the face of the earth pondered over the human soul, its origin and its destiny, and when they weighed the beliefs and practices of the great men of the past, they categorically rejected the entirety of these beliefs. They profess,"It has been revealed to us that the rational soul in itself is of little value, and that its existence is dependent upon bodily existence, and its extinction upon bodily extinction." They also declare, "That which the prophets have said concerning the rational soul, that it never diminishes or increases and after departure from the body it will continue to subsist through its own essence, is impossible!'Likewise, the idea of resurrection is an absurd supposition. Life is the result of the harmony of bodily elements, and when the body decays the man is destroyed forever. The supposed joys of heaven and the sufferings of hell exist in this world. As the poet has said:

 

For one who has been favored

Here and now is his blessed lot.

But he who has been given naught

"Tomorrow" is his promised lot.5

 

Thus necessarily their minds are entirely unperturbed by the thought of resurrection, future punishment, proximity to or remoteness from God, divine favor or wrath, perfection or imperfection; and as a result of their convictions they spend their lives lusting after sensual delights. They say:

 

You who are resulted from four and seven,6

And always suffer from seven and four,

Drink wine for I've told you, aye, thousands of times,

That's all: when you're gone, you're no more.7

 

They often have the following quatrain inscribed upon the coffins of their forefathers:

 

Beyond this rotary vault, no arch or mansion lies:

None has wisdom or perception except for you and I.

You that something in nothing have thought

Pass by this fantasy, for it is naught.

 

It is because of this belief, they have not the least regard for the life, property and the honor of people :

For him a cup of fire-colored wine is

Dearer than the blood of one hundred brothers.

 

Indeed, they are great masters of success, and what was veiled and hidden for thousands of years from many men despite their purification of soul and intellect, was easily revealed to them.