(Point Nine)

He contradicts himself by making the spirit the white of the eye, the universal soul its dark part, the heavens its upper eyelid, and the earths its lower eyelid. It is well known that the two eyelids of the human eye enclose its dark and white parts. Yet, according to him, the spirit and the soul are above the heavens and the earth, not between heaven and earth as the dark and white parts of the eye are between the eyelids. Thus, besides being among the most abominable forms of unbelief, this analogy contains the ignorance and contradiction you can plainly see.

(Point Ten)

The universal soul is a term that the philosophers received from the Sabians. As for the spirit, he means by it what they call the intellect, which is the first of the emanations; he himself calls it a spirit. He based this on the doctrine of the Sabians, not on the religion of the pure monotheists. We have explained its falsity elsewhere.

Nevertheless, the Sabian philosophers are better than these people, for they acknowledge the Necessary Being from whom the intellects, souls, celestial spheres, and earth emanated. They do not identify these things with Him, whereas these people do. Their doctrine therefore accords only with that of deniers such as Pharaoh—and his followers—who said:

“And what is the Lord of the worlds?”

He also said:

“I know of no god for you other than myself.”

And he said:

“O Hāmān, build me a lofty tower so that I may reach the ways—the ways to the heavens,” to the end of the verse.

Pharaoh acknowledges the existence of this world but says that there is no Lord above it and that it has no creator other than itself.