Early Writings — Page 42
42 THE of his beliefs, so much so that when he finds himself unable to argue, he would simply say: 'Although I am unable to provide a valid refutation, I hold this belief nonetheless and consider it to be true from the core of my heart. In fact, this voice from his heart reflects the same old habit of man which philosophers refer to as 'second nature. Hence, the same is the case with your belief regarding reve- lation. Since you have by way of habit, held this belief for such a long period of time, it has become so firmly ingrained in your heart and has become so creditable in your view that you consider even the strongest of arguments which I have presented against your view to be unimpressive. Furthermore, when you find your argument to be weak in some respect, you seek to change the course of the debate and jump to another subject. It is impossible to arrive at a conclusion in this manner. Neither has anyone suc- ceeded in doing so in the past, and neither will they be able to do so in the future. You have asked me to provide you the names of such writers whose books or investigations are free from error. You have said this despite the fact that academics in the fields of knowledge to which I had made reference are convinced of the authenticity of their writings. Have you not studied books on mathematics? Have you not gone through books on physics? Of course, you may not have gone through more modern literature that is still to be trans- lated from English into Persian or Arabic, but you would perhaps know about the writings of some Greeks such as Euclid's princi- ples of geometry; and it is obvious that no scholar of the world (whether a believer in revelation or not and whether a believer in God or an atheist) has ever denied the authenticity and soundness