Early Writings — Page 20
20 THE souls remain attached to their respective bodies for as long as they must. This supposition, however, would also make it necessary for us to believe that until this time passes, no soul can enter those other foetuses which have developed in the wombs of mothers at present. Yet it would be evidently false in terms of rationality to believe that a foetus can remain idle and detached from its soul in this manner. Hence, when the necessary result that follows from a certain proposition is proven false, the proposition itself is also established as false. Hence, in light of the fact that both premises have been established to be valid, it is proven that God is the pos- sessor of perfect providence. Quod erat demonstrandum. The Sixth Argument: The Holy Quran presents another argument also by way of compound syllogism. A compound syl- logism is constructed with such premises the conclusion of which does not necessarily prove a point to be valid; however, the point can be established if the conclusion is put together with another premise to form a new syllogistic argument. Hence, the required result might be obtained either from the second syllogism devel- oped, or by constructing other syllogisms by linking premises in this manner, to arrive at a final conclusion. In both cases, this type of syllogism is called a compound syllogism. The verse which is comprised of this kind of argument is the one in Surah al-Baqarah, part 3: الله لا إلهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ لاَ تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ لَهُ مَا في السموتِ وَ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ That is, God, in His person, is ever worthy of being worshipped 1. Surah al-Baqarah, 2:256 [Publisher]