Know why one man does not resemble another, like the birds and animals etc., having likened one with the other. You see a herd of deer and a swarm of partridges each resembling the other without much difference among them, whereas men, as you see, have distinctive features and constitutions, so much so, that no two men correspond to the same pattern.
The reason is the need each individual has to be recognised personally by his particular build and physiognomy, as they have to conduct business among themselves which does not concern animals. Don’t you see that the mutual resemblance among animals and birds does them no harm? Not so in man, for if by chance a pair of twins become alike in shape, people feel a great deal of confusion in dealing with them. What must be given to one is handed to the other by mistake. One is held up in place of the other in retribution.
It so happens in other matters as well through resemblance. Human resemblance can be even more harmful. Who then, has provided such niceties and perfections, which stagger imagination? Surely He Who created all these, Whose Grace extends to all things.
Will you believe a person who says that a picture on the wall, which you see, has come into being of itself without the aid of an artist? Certainly not! You will laugh at him. How then can you believe that a living man with faculties of speech and movement can come into being of himself, while you are not prepared to entertain such belief in regard to a lifeless picture? 1
- Tradition of mufaddal, dictated by Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq to Mufaddal (Mufadhal) ibn `Umar[↩]
