I heard as follows from Abú Riḍá b. 'Abdu's-Salám of Níshápúr, in the Great Mosque at Níshápúr, in the year A.H. 510 (=A.D. 1116-1117):—“We were travelling towards Tamgháj,*

and in our caravan were several thousand camels. One day, when we were marching in the midday heat, we saw on a hillock a woman, bare-headed, extremely beautiful in form, with a figure like a cypress, a face like the moon, and long hair, standing and looking at us. Although I spoke to her, she made no reply; and when I approached her, she fled, running so swiftly in her flight that no horse could overtake her. Our guides,*

who were Turks, said that this was a wild man, such as they call nasnás.”

Now you must know that it is nobler than other animals in these three respects which have been mentioned.

So when, by lapse of long ages and time, organization waxes more delicate, the moment comes for that interaction which takes place between the elements and the heavens, and man comes into being, bringing with him all that existed in the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, to which is added the capacity for intellectual concepts. So he becomes king over all, and brings all things under his control. For from the mineral world he made jewels, gold and silver his embellishment and adornment, while from iron, tin, copper, and lead he fashioned utensils for his use. From the vegetable kingdom also he made his food and raiment and carpets; and from the animal world he provided himself with steeds and beasts of burden. Moreover, from all three kingdoms he chose out medicaments wherewith to heal himself. Whence did there accrue to him all this superiority? By this, that he knew himself, and, by means of intellectual concepts, knew God. “He who knoweth himself, knoweth his Lord.”

So this kingdom [of man] became divided into three classes. The first is that class which is proximate to the Animal Kingdom, such as the wild men of the waste and the mountain, whose intelligence doth not more than suffice to secure their own livelihood, seek their own advantage, and ward off what is to their detriment. The second class compriseth the inhabitants of towns and cities, who possess civilization, mutually assist one another, and discover crafts and arts; but whose scientific attainments are limited to the organizing of such association as subsists between them, to the end that the different classes*

may continue to exist. The third class comprises such as are independent of these things, whose occupation, by night and by day, in secret and in public, is to reflect, “Who are we; for what reason did we come into existence, and who hath brought us into being?” In other words they hold debate concerning the real essences of things, reflect on their coming, and anxiously consider their departure, saying, “How have we come? Whither do we go?”

This class, again, is subdivided into two sorts; first, those who reach the essence of this object by means of masters, by laborious toil and absorption, and by reading and writing; and such are called philosophers. But there is yet another sort who, without master or book, reach the extreme limit of this problem, and these are called prophets.

Now, the peculiar virtues of the Prophet are three: first, that, without instruction, he knows all knowledges; secondly, that he gives information concerning yesterday and to-morrow otherwise than by analogical reasoning; and thirdly, that his soul hath such power that from whatever body he will he taketh the form and produceth another form, which thing none can do save such as are conformed to the Angelic World. Therefore in the Human World none is above him, and his command is effective for the well-being of the world; for whatever they have, he has, while possessing also an additional qualification which they have not, that is to say, communion with the Angelic World. This additional qualification is in brief termed the Prophetic Function, and is in detail such as we have explained.

Now, so long as such a man lives, he points out to his people what things conduce to well-being in both worlds, by the Command of God, glorious is His Name, com­municated to him by means of the Angels. But when, by natural dissolution, he turns his face towards the other world, he leaves behind him a Code derived from the indications of God Almighty and his own sayings. And assuredly he requires to act as his substitute, and to maintain his Law and Practice, a vicegerent, who must needs be the most excellent of mankind and the most perfect product of his age, in order that he may revive this Law and carry out this Practice; and such an one is called an Imám. This Imám can cope with the disasters of the East and the West, the North and the South, in such wise that the effects of his care extend alike to the most remote and the nearest, while his command and prohibition reach alike the intelligent and the ignorant. But he must needs have vicars to act for him in distant parts of the world, and not every one of these will have such power that all mankind shall be compelled to admit it. Hence there must be a leader, an administrator, a compeller, which administrator and compeller is called a Monarch, that is to say, a King; and his vicarious function Sovereignty. The King, therefore, is the lieutenant of the Imám, the Imám of the Prophet, and the Prophet of God (mighty and glorious is He!).

Well has it been said on this subject:

“Then know that the functions of Prophet and King
Are set side by side like two stones in one ring.”

Know, therefore, that the Regal and Prophetic offices are as two jewels in one ring, for the Prince of the sons of men himself hath said “State and Church are twins,” since in form and essence neither differs, either as regards increase or defect, from the other. So, by virtue of this decree, no burden, after the Prophetic office, is weightier than Sovereignty, nor any function more laborious than that of governing. Hence a king needs round about him, as men on whose counsel, judgement, and deliberations depend the loosing and binding of the world, and the well-being and ill-being of the servants of God Almighty, such as are in every case the most excellent and most perfect of their time.

Now of the special ministers of Kings are the Secretary, the Poet, the Astrologer, and the Physician, and these can in no wise be dispensed with. For the maintenance of the administration is by the Secretary; the perpetuation of immortal renown by the Poet; the ordering of affairs by the Astrologer; and the health of the body by the Physician. These four arduous functions and noble arts are amongst the branches of the Science of Philosophy; the functions of the Scribe and the Poet being branches of the Science of Logic; that of the Astrologer, one of the principal sub­divisions of Mathematics; while the Physician's Art is amongst the branches of Natural Science. This book, therefore, comprises Four Discourses, to wit:—

First Discourse, on the essence of the Secretarial Art, and the nature of the Secretary.

Second Discourse, on the essence of the Poetic Art, and what it behoves the Poet to be.

Third Discourse, on the essence of the Science of Astrology, and the distinguishing signs of the Astrologer.

Fourth Discourse, on the essence of the Science of Medicine, and the function and nature of the Physician.

In all these divisions of Philosophy, then, that will be advanced which is appropriate to this book; and thereafter ten pleasing anecdotes, of the choicest connected with that subject and the rarest germane to that topic, of what hath befallen persons of the class under discussion, will be added, in order that it may become plainly known to the King that the Secretarial Office is not a trivial matter; that the Poetic Calling is no mean occupation; that Astrology is a necessary Science; that Medicine is indispensable; and that the wise King cannot do without these four persons— the Scribe, the Poet, the Astrologer, and the Physician.