The seventeenth point: This analogy is invalid, for the soul needs the body to attain its perfections, just as the body needs the soul. Each needs the other, and deeds result from their cooperation. This is related from Ibn ‘Abbās by the hadith master Abū ‘Abd Allāh ibn Mandah in The Soul and the Spirit, among other accounts. Ibn ‘Abbās said:

“Disputes will continue on the Day of Resurrection until the soul and the body dispute with one another. The soul will say, ‘I did nothing; it was you who acted, so you deserve the punishment.’ The body will say, ‘I did not move of my own accord; rather, you moved me and commanded me.’ Allah will then send an angel to judge between them. He will say, ‘You are like a man unable to walk and a blind man who entered a garden. The man unable to walk saw fruit hanging there and said to the blind man, “I can see fruit, but I cannot walk to it.”