The Words | GLEAMS | 743
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A Grain of Truth Is To Be Found in the Jabriyya and Mu'tazila

O seeker after truth! The Shari'a differentiates between the past and disasters, and the future and sins.

Divine Determining20  is looked to in connection with the past and calamities, and the word is the Jabriyya's.

Man's accountability is considered concerning the future and sins; then the word is the Mu'tazila's. The Mu'tazila and Jabriyya are reconciled here.

Both these false schools contain a grain of truth; it has a particular place; it is false when made general.

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Impotence and Anxiety Are For the Inadequate

If you want life, don't cling onto impotence in things for which there are solutions;

If you want ease of mind, don't become needlessly anxious about things for which there is no solution.

* * *

Sometimes Little Things Do Big Works

Under some conditions a small point21 raises its owner to the highest of the high.

Then there are circumstances when a slight movement sends down the doer to the lowest of the low.


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20. Divine Determining (Kader), sometimes known as 'fate', 'destiny', or 'predestination'. For a detailed exposition, see, the Twenty-Sixth Word in the present volume. [Tr.]
21. That is, a diacritical point (hareke) in the Arabic or Ottoman script. [Tr.]

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The Words