the fatigue and exhaustion he suffers, so that he neither attains his goal nor finds rest. This is if he remains in simple ignorance. The same is true of these men.
Thus, someone present at the death of al-Khūnajī, the leading logician of his time, reported that he said as he lay dying:
“I am dying knowing nothing except that the contingent depends on the Necessary.”
Then he said:
“Dependence is a negative attribute. I am dying without having learned anything.”
Such is their condition when all they ultimately reach is simple ignorance. As for those who end up in compound ignorance, they are many.
Those among them who do attain knowledge are likened to someone asked, “Where is your ear?” He circles his hand over his head and reaches his ear with difficulty, although he could have brought his hand to his ear from below—a shorter and easier route.
When matters grasped innately are approached through methods contrary to that innate disposition, this only torments people without benefiting them. It is as though a man were told, “Divide these dirhams equally among these people.” This can be done without difficulty. But suppose someone said to him:
“Wait! You cannot perform the division until you know its definition and distinguish it from multiplication. Division is the reverse of multiplication: multiplication consists in repeating the units of one number as many times as there are units in the other, while division consists in distributing the units of one number among the units of the other. Thus, multiplying the quotient by the divisor gives back the dividend, and dividing the product by either factor yields the other factor.”
Then it is said:
“What you have stated as the definition of multiplication is incorrect, for it only