Fools Versus The Insane

Among the adepts of mysticism are fools and imbeciles who are more like insane persons than like rational beings.

Nonetheless, they deservedly attained stations of sainthood and the mystic states of the righteous.

The persons with mystical experience who learn about them know that such is their condition, although they are not legally responsible. The information they give about the supernatural is remarkable.

They are not bound by anything. They speak absolutely freely about it and tell remarkable things.

When jurists see they are not legally responsible, they frequently deny that they have attained any mystical station, since sainthood can be obtained only through divine worship. This is an error.

The attainment of sainthood is not restricted to the correct performance of divine worship, or anything else.

When the human soul is firmly established as existent, God may single it out for whatever gifts of His He wants to give it.

The rational souls still exist and are not corrupt, as is the case with the insane.

• But they merely lack the intellect that is the basis of legal responsibility.
• That intellect is a special attribute of the soul.*

It means various kinds of knowledge that are necessary to man and that guide his speculative ability and teach him how to make a living and organize his home.

One may say that if he knows how to make a living, he has no excuse left not to accept legal responsibility, so that he may prepare for his life after death.

A person who lacks intellect still does not lack the soul itself, and has not forgotten his reality.

He has reality, though he lacks the intellect entailing legal responsibility, that is, the knowledge of how to make a living.

This is because God does not select His servants for gnosis only on the basis of the performance of some legal duty.

If this is correct, then the state of these men is frequently confused with that of the insane, whose rational souls are corrupted and who belong to the category of animals.

There are signs to distinguish the fools and the insane:

1. Fools are found devoting themselves constantly to certain dhikr exercises and divine worship, though not in the way the religious law requires since they are not legally responsible.

The insane, on the other hand, have no particular devotion whatever.

3. Fools were created stupid, and were stupid from their earliest days.

The insane, on the other hand, lose their minds after some portion of their life has passed, as the result of natural bodily accidents.

When this happens to them and their rational souls become corrupt, they are lost.

4. Fools have a great activity, either good or bad, among men.

They do not have to have permission, because for them there is no legal responsibility.

The insane, on the other hand, show no such activity.

Other alleged ways of supernatural perception

Astrologers believe in astrological indications, consequences of the positions of stars, influences of the stars on the elements, and results from the tempering of the natures of the stars when they look at each other, 338 as well as effects of such tempers upon the air.

Astrologers have nothing to do with the supernatural.

It is all guesswork and conjectures based upon the assumed existence of astral influence, and a resulting conditioning of the air.

Such guesswork is accompanied by an additional measure of sagacity enabling scholars to determine the distribution of astral influence on particular individuals in the world, as Ptolemy said.

Astrology is at best, guessing and conjecturing.