and a lamb (1) apprehends its mother’s affection. They say:
“The innate judgment found in the hearts of the children of Adam—that the existence of anything of this kind is impossible—is a judgment of estimation, not of reason (2). For the judgment of estimation is accepted only with respect to sensible things, not what is imperceptible (3).”
They are told:
“If this is correct, then your assertion that it is impossible for Him to be above the world without being a body is likewise a judgment of estimation, for it concerns what, according to you, is imperceptible. Similarly, its judgment that whatever is seen (4) must necessarily be in some direction relative to the observer is also a judgment of estimation.
“Likewise, all else that they claim to be impossible for the Lord [is] (5) analogous to the claim that it is impossible for Him to be neither separate from the world nor occupying the same locus as it (6). Thus, if the judgment of innate disposition concerning this impossibility is accepted in”
(1) In *Lisān al-Arab*: “A *sakhla* is the young of either a goat or a sheep, male or female.” Abū Zayd said: “The newborn of either sheep or goats, male or female, is called a *sakhla* from the moment its mother gives birth to it.”
(2) N: “action,” which is a corruption.
(3) Ibn Sīnā defines the *quwwa wahmiyya* (estimative faculty) in *al-Najāt* (vol. [0–9], p. [0–9]63, ed. Muhyi al-Dīn al-Kurdī, 2nd ed., 1357/1938) as follows: “Next is the estimative faculty, a faculty located at the posterior end of the brain’s middle ventricle. It apprehends the non-sensible meanings present in particular sensible objects, as does the faculty that judges that the wolf is to be fled from and that the offspring is to be shown affection.” See also *al-Shifā*, section on the soul, vol. [0–9], pp. [0–9]60–161, 177–179, ed. Ján Bakoš, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Prague, 1956; and “A Study of the Psychic Faculty,” in *Ahwāl al-Nafs*, ed. Dr. Ahmad Fuād al-Ahwānī, pp. [0–9]66–167, Cairo, 1952.
(4) N: “everyone who is not seen”; M: “everything that is not seen.” Both readings are erroneous.
(5) “Is” is omitted only from N.
(6) N and M: “separate.”