Some ignorant debaters and half-witted claimants to philosophy have, because of their deficient understanding and faulty knowledge, said, “It would have been better if the belly of man had been like a cloak to enable the physician to open it at will, observe its contents and poke his hand inside for medical treatment, and not as it is walled in, mysteriously hidden from the reach of eyes and hands. The internal disorders can now only be gauged by delicate symptoms of the examination of the urine, pulse etc., which are not above error ant doubt to the extent that such error in pulse and urine examination may lead to death.”
Would that these ignorant claimants to philosophy and polemics had known, that it would have removed all apprehension of disease and death. Man would have been then infatuated with his immortality and
healthfulness, which would have rendered him wilful and conceited. The open belly would have allowed the constant trickling of moisture, thus spoiling his seat, bed and nice dresses; in short, his whole living under the circumstances.
The stomach, the liver and the heart function properly because of vital heat, which would have been disturbed by the influence of the outside air acting through the belly under treatment, open to the reach of the eye and the hand. This would have resulted in death.
Don’t you see that all hypothesis of the real nature of creation and constitution are far-fetched and preposterous? 1
- Tradition of mufaddal, dictated by Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq to Mufaddal (Mufadhal) ibn `Umar[↩]
