Iḵẖwanu-ṣ-safā, or Brothers of purity / translated from the Hindūstānī of Ikrām 'Alī, by John Platts; carried through tne press by Edward B. Eastwick.

  • Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ.
Date:
1875
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Iḵẖwanu-ṣ-safā, or Brothers of purity / translated from the Hindūstānī of Ikrām 'Alī, by John Platts; carried through tne press by Edward B. Eastwick. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    created everything for some special reason? None save the learned and Himself can comprehend His secret purpose” The same man hereupon observed, “ If you are the sage of the animals, perhaps you will inform us what the advantage is in making the camel’s neck long.” The animal replied, saying:—“ The reason is, because his legs were long. If his neck were short, it would be difficult for him to graze; so his neck has been formed long, that he may feed with advantage. Again, with the power of that same neck he rises up from the ground, and can apply his lips to, and scratch, any part of his body. In the same way, the elephant’s trunk is long, to supply the place of a neck; and his ears are large, to enable him to drive away flies and mosquitoes, so that none may enter his eyes and mouth; for this, by reason of his tusks, remains ever open; and his tusks are long, to the end that he may defend himself from harm from rapacious beasts. So the hare’s ears are made long, for the reason that, having a delicate body and a thin skin, she may cover herself with them in winter, and spread them out as a bed in summer. In short, God (may He be exalted) has bestowed on every animal such limbs as He saw fit. On this point, speaking by the mouth of the prophet Moses, He declares “ It was our Lord who bestowed on everything its form, and then guided it aright.”1 The purport of which is, that He gave to