The Mirror of the Excellences of Islam — Page 230
PREFACE SUB-FOOTNOTE 229 Meaning that: When God Almighty intends to do something, His intention is charged with a force and a power by which the mere say- ing: 'Be'—the visionary picture of the thing that does already exist in His knowledge-causes that thing to come into existence. The answer to this objection is that the power and strength to do something does not necessarily imply that the thing be accomplished of itself forthwith. Nay, rather, the power and intention would be per- fect only when they are executed so as to bring about the intended result, sooner or later, in accordance with the real intention of the doer. For example, we cannot call a man perfect in his walk who can walk fast but not slow; we shall call him perfect who is capable of walking both fast and slow. Again, a man who always keeps his arm extended and is incapable of withdrawing it to himself cannot be called physically fit, as is a man who always keeps standing and is unable to sit. Such a man is an invalid and would be described as a disabled person. Therefore, 'power' connotes the ability to do a thing both at once and after a time. If only one such ability was present it would not constitute 'power', but would be evidence of weakness and a lack of power. It is surprising indeed that our opponents do not look even at the divine law of nature by which divine decrees are executed sometimes at once, and at times with some delay. There is, moreover, also reason to believe that the destructive attributes of God find their expression mostly at once, and the manifestation of the finer and gentle attributes is delayed and takes place slowly. For example, the child in the moth- er's womb takes nine months to develop completely; but death does not necessarily need much time. A single evacuation or vomit in a case of cholera sometimes sends the patient to the next world in a single moment- -the body which had attained its physical and mental perfec- tion in number of years, leaves him in an instant. What I have so far said in reply to this objection will, in my opin- ion, suffice for the present. I, therefore, wish to close the reply here. Nevertheless, it is necessary to clearly reiterate that the perfect inten- tion—like the perfect power-connotes both the immediate and the