The Light of Truth — Page 283
REFUTING OBJECTIONS This detractor, who seeks to create disorder, asserts that ذي مرة ]dhi mirrah-possessor of mighty power] is a name for Satan. He also claims that المرة ]al-mirrah] means yel- low bile and rejects every view that contradicts this. All of this is of course untrue, deceitful, and deceptive and we seek protec- tion with Allah from the deceivers and mischief-makers. To the contrary, the correct and original meaning of al-mirrah—the application of which is found in the speech of the most eloquent Arabic speakers and the most eminent literati—is iḥkāmul-fatl [the precise twisting of twine] and idāratul-khuyūt [the inter- lacing of threads] upon joining them together. This is what the author of Tājul-Arūs and commentator of al-Qāmūs has written. ¹ This word [al-mirrah] then evolved from al-ihkām [precise twisting] and al-idārah [interlacing] to its eventual meaning; that is, 'strength' and 'power. For when a rope is twisted tightly, it follows without question that after being pulled taut it becomes stronger, and becomes like a thing that is strong and firm. From here, the term [al-mirrah] began to be applied to intelligence-much like الحقل al-haql—i. e. pure, cultivable land] evolved to الحقل al-hagl-i. e. fertile land with new crops]-because intellect is a faculty that develops through the careful consideration of foundational principles and the refinement of observations, made clear by the common sense that arises from the senses by leave of the Lord of mankind and the Best of Creators. In the fourth stage of its etymological development, this term came to denote one of the temperaments of the body [i. e. irascibility]; I am referring to الصفراء assafra-yellow bile[, 283 1. Tājul-Arūs is a highly respected and voluminous dictionary of classical Arabic that was written by Murtadā az-Zabīdī of India (1732-1790 CE) and is a com- mentary of the renowned Arabic lexicon al-Qāmūs al-Muhit by Fairuzabadi of Persia (1329-1414 CE). [Publisher]