Explanation of the author's statement: "6. The view of the later philosophers, the followers of Aristotle"
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The Shaykh :"Sixth: The view of the later philosophers, the followers of Aristotle", yes?
The student: The Khawarij...
The Shaykh : I know nothing about them.
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : I do not know.
"The view of the later philosophers, the followers of Aristotle: 'It is an emanation from the Active Intellect upon the noble, pure souls'".
The Active Intellect, in their view, is the one who created the universe, not Allah. Therefore, they refer to Allah as the Active Cause, or the Active Intellect, or something similar.
This Active Intellect, in their opinion, is electronic. They say: "It emanates upon the noble, pure souls according to their capacity and receptivity, necessitating for them conceptions and affirmations according to what they accepted from it".
The difference between conception and affirmation is that conception makes a person know the image, while affirmation judges it; so affirmation means judging the thing. "These imagined conceptions and affirmations strengthen until they conceive of the intelligible thing as luminous images that address them with speech that the ears hear". What is this long, broad thing?
They say: We have an Active Intellect that manages the universe. It emanates upon the noble, pure souls, emanating to them from what it has. We do not say "from what Allah gave," because it is Allah in their view. It emanates to them conceptions and affirmations, yes, according to their capacity. Due to the strength of the conception and affirmation, the one who was given these conceptions and affirmations imagines that someone is addressing him with speech that the ears hear.
This imagined one, in their view, is the Allah who speaks.
And this is, in reality, as you have seen, a false statement. First: because the Active Intellect does not exist. Second: because if we were to apply these conceptions and imaginations to reality, we would say: these are insane, like a person who imagines that a jinn is addressing him or speaking with him. This is the closest comparison, although they see it; this is the closest.
The student: The Khawarij...
The Shaykh : I know nothing about them.
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : I do not know.
"The view of the later philosophers, the followers of Aristotle: 'It is an emanation from the Active Intellect upon the noble, pure souls'".
The Active Intellect, in their view, is the one who created the universe, not Allah. Therefore, they refer to Allah as the Active Cause, or the Active Intellect, or something similar.
This Active Intellect, in their opinion, is electronic. They say: "It emanates upon the noble, pure souls according to their capacity and receptivity, necessitating for them conceptions and affirmations according to what they accepted from it".
The difference between conception and affirmation is that conception makes a person know the image, while affirmation judges it; so affirmation means judging the thing. "These imagined conceptions and affirmations strengthen until they conceive of the intelligible thing as luminous images that address them with speech that the ears hear". What is this long, broad thing?
They say: We have an Active Intellect that manages the universe. It emanates upon the noble, pure souls, emanating to them from what it has. We do not say "from what Allah gave," because it is Allah in their view. It emanates to them conceptions and affirmations, yes, according to their capacity. Due to the strength of the conception and affirmation, the one who was given these conceptions and affirmations imagines that someone is addressing him with speech that the ears hear.
This imagined one, in their view, is the Allah who speaks.
And this is, in reality, as you have seen, a false statement. First: because the Active Intellect does not exist. Second: because if we were to apply these conceptions and imaginations to reality, we would say: these are insane, like a person who imagines that a jinn is addressing him or speaking with him. This is the closest comparison, although they see it; this is the closest.