Chapter Two: On the Sayings of the Ancients

al-ḥarārah fī al-rūḥ al-ṭabīʻī lam yuʻāriḍhu muʻāriḍ wa-huwa ḥadīth al-ʻahd fa-bi-sabab ḥudūth al-ʻahd lā yakūn qad laṭṭafatʹhu al-ḥarārah al-gharīzīyah. Wa-al-nafsānī ʻāraḍahu al-maskan wa-huwa al-dimāgh fa-innahu bārid wa-lākin qadum ʻahd al-ḥarārah fīhi fa-ṣāra alṭaf li-ṭūl al-ʻahd wa-taḥlīl al-ghalīẓ wa-abrad li-mujāwarah al-makān wa-huwa al-dimāgh wa-minhu yanbathth fī sāʼir al-badan wa-fiʻluhu al-ḥiss wa-al-ḥarakah.

Wa-hādhihi al-arwāḥ tashtarik fīhā al-ḥayawānāt wa-lam yuthbitū li-al-insān rūḥ ākhar li-anna gharaḍahum bayān mā yalḥaquhu al-ṣiḥḥah wa-al-maraḍ wa-in kāna li-al-insān rūḥ ākhar fa-laysa mudāwātuhu min jins ṭibb al-abdān.

Wa-ammā al-nafs fa-lam yadhkurūhā fī al-ṭibb ṣarīḥ li-annahum lam yadhkurū fī al-ṭibb illā al-arkān wa-al-amzijah wa-al-aʻḍāʼ. Wa-al-arwāḥ wa-al-quwá wa-al-afʻāl fa-qāla baʻḍuhum yanbaghī an takūn al-nafs shayʼ min hādhihi al-ashyāʼ fa-qāla baʻḍuhum al-nafs hiya al-aʻḍāʼ maʻa al-arwāḥ wa-hiya hādhā al-haykal al-ḥayy. Wa-māla qawm ilá annahā al-mizāj al-muʻtadil. Wa-dhahaba baʻḍuhum ilá annahā al-dam wa-zaʻama ghayruhum annahā al-akhlāṭ wa-iʻtaqada qawm annahā hiya al-quwá. Wa-qāla qawm hiya shayʼ ghayr hādhihi al-ashyāʼ tatbaʻ al-mizāj al-muʻtadil wa-taḥduth ʻinda istiḥkām al-mizāj wa-tastaʻmil al-quwá wa-al-ālāt wa-tuḥaṣṣil al-manī wa-al-kamālāt wa-huwa qawl al-falāsifah.

Al-Bāb al-thānī fī aqāwīl al-awāʼil

Ammā al-rūḥ fa-al-mafhūm minhu ʻindahum annahu jawhar laysa bi-jism wa-lā jismānī fa-yadkhul fīhi al-ʻuqūl wa-al-nufūs lākin takhṣīṣ al-rūḥ bi-mā lā ḥājah lahu ilá al-ālah al-jismānīyah awlá fa-takūn al-rūḥ aʻlá min al-nafs wa-huwa al-ladhī taqūl lahu al-falāsifah al-ʻaql wa-ammā al-nafs fa-ʻindahum bi-ajmaʻihim samāʼīyah wa-arḍīyah wa-kull wāḥidah min al-qismayn jismānīyah wa-mujarradah wa-al-jismānīyah hiya ka-al-ṣuwar al-qāʼimah bi-mawādd al-ajsām wa-hiya al-nafs al-nabātīyah allatī fī al-nabāt wa-al-ḥayawānīyah allatī fī al-ḥayawānāt wa-mithl hādhihi al-nufūs nufūs samāʼīyah fī al-kawākib wa-ajrām al-samawāt nuḥarrikuhā. Wa-ammā al-ladhī laysa bi-jismānī fa-al-samāʼīyah minhā nufūs bi-ʻadad al-aflāk lā bi-ʻadad al-nujūm ayḍā. Wa-ammā al-arḍīyah minhā fa-hiya nafs al-insān wa-hiya al-nī yusammūnahā al-nafs al-nāṭiqah wa-lam yuthbitū nafs arḍīyah laysat bi-jism wa-lā qāʼim bi-jism illā hādhihi ghayr an jamʻ min al-mutaʼakhkhirīn qālū al-shayāṭīn nufūs arḍīyah mujarradah. Fa-in kāna ka-dhālika fa-yaḥtamil an yaqūlū al-shayāṭīn jamāʻah min al-uns balaghū fī al-sharr al-ghāyah wa-bālaghū fī al-ḍurr wa-al-nikāyah wa-yaḥtamil an yaqūlū hum nawʻ ākhar fa-yakūnūn qāʼilīn bi-nufūs mutanawwiʻah arḍīyah mujarradah.

Wa-al-farq bayna al-nafs wa-al-rūḥ an al-rūḥ yafʻal fiʻlahu min ghayr tawaqquf ʻalá ālah jismānīyah wa-al-nafs lā taʻmal illā bi-al-ālāt. Wa-li-hādhā qālū al-nufūs lā takhluq al-ajsām wa-lākinnahā tuḥarrikuhā li-anna ʻamalahā bi-ālah jismānīyah fa-kayfa yakūn lahā ʻamal fīhā lā ʻamal lahā illā bihi.

Fa-al-mawjūdāt ʻalá madhhabihim ʻalá khams marātib. [ al-aʻrāḍ ] wa-hiya akhassuhā wa-adnāhā wa-lahā wujūd wa-qiyām bi-al-nafs ay lā yaftaqir fī wujūdihā ilá maḥall bi-wajh fīhi bi-khilāf al-bayāḍ wa-al-sawād fa-innahā lā yumkin wujūduhumā illā qāʼim bi-maḥall huwa al-jism aw al-jawhar thumma [ al-nafs ] wa-lahā wujūd wa-qiyām bi-al-nafs