Consider the blessing of speech, with which he is endowed by Allah, the Almighty, which is the medium for the expression of his inner thought and his cordial feelings springing from his cogitation and with which also he understands the inner points of others. Without this faculty he would have been like quadrupeds, neither able to convey his own inner thought to others, nor to understand the words of the speaker.
So is the case with the art of writing which is a means for knowing the histories of the bygone people and for transmitting those of the existing people for the generations to come. Through the same, achievements of science and literature are preserved in books for ages. Through the same, are preserved the discussions and account between one man and another. Without this art, one age would have been cut off completely from another; nor would any news have been received from those who are away from their native lands.
Sciences too would have been extinct. Information on morality and etiquette would have been lost and a serious damage in the affairs of mankind would have ensued as also in the religious teachings and the traditions, which people need to know, and the knowledge thereof would have been impossible.
You may, perhaps, think that this need has been fulfiled by man with the help of his own design and intelligence. It is not inherent in the nature of man. The same is the case of speech and language, for this too is a matter of terminology and resolution, determined by the people according to their mutual understanding of talk. That is why different groups have different languages and scripts, for instance, the Arabic, the Syrian, the Hebrew, the Roman etc., each of which is different from the other, each having decided upon its own terminology of language and words.
He who makes such a claim, the answer will be that though in both these matters man’s planning and action have played a role, yet the means whereby his planning and action achieve the goal, is a gift from the bounty of Allah Almighty, underlying therein. Supposing he had not been gifted with the tonnage for speech, or the intellect had not been bestowed on him to guide him to such activity, he could never have been able to talk, and if he had not been blessed with the palm and the fingers, it would never have been possible for him to write.
You should learn a lesson from the animals in this behalf, who lave neither the power to speak nor the power to write. As such it is the principle laid down by the Almighty Creator for man’s fundamental nature
as a special boon, for which whoever is grateful shall get the heavenly rewards, while whoever denies will be ignored, for Allah Almighty is independent of the whole universe. 1
- Tradition of mufaddal, dictated by Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq to Mufaddal (Mufadhal) ibn `Umar[↩]
