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_Abu Jaaphar Ebn Tophail_'s

INTRODUCTION

To the LIFE of

_Hai Ebn Yokdhan_.

_In the Name of the most Merciful God_.[1]

Blessed be the Almighty and Eternal, the Infinitely Wise and Merciful
God, _who hath taught us the Use of the PEN_[2], who out of his great
Goodness to Mankind, _has made him understand Things which he did not
know_. I praise him for his excellent Gifts, and give him thanks for his
continued Benefits, and I testify that there is but One God, and that he
has no Partner[3]; and that _MAHOMET_ is his Servant and Apostle[4],
endu'd with an excellent Spirit, and Master of convincing Demonstration,
and a victorious Sword: the Blessing of God be upon him, and his
Companions, (Men of great Thoughts, and vast Understandings,) and upon
all his Followers, to the End of the World.

You ask'd me, Dear Friend, (God preserve you for ever, and make you
Partaker of everlasting Happiness) to communicate to you what I knew
concerning the Mysteries of the Eastern Philosophy, mention'd by the
Learned _Avicenna_[5]: Now you must understand, that whoever designs to
attain to a clear and distinct Knowledge, must be diligent in the search
of it. Indeed your request gave me a noble turn of Thought, and brought
me to the understanding of what I never knew before; nay, it advanc'd me
to such an elevation, as no Tongue, how eloquent soever, is able to
express; and the reason is, because 'tis of a quite different nature and
kind from the Things of this World; only this there is in it, that
whoever has attain'd to any degree of it, is so mightily affected with
joy Pleasure, and Exultation, that 'tis impossible for him to conceal
his sense of it, but he is forc'd to utter some general Expressions,
since he cannot be particular. Now if a Man, who has not been polish'd
by good Education, happens to attain to that state, he tuns out into
strange Expressions, and speaks he knows not what; so that one of this
sort of Men, when in that state, cry'd out, _Praise to be me! How
wonderful am I!_[6] Another said, _I am Truth!_[7]. Another, _That he
was God_.

_Abu Hamed Algazali_[8], when he had attain'd to it, express'd himself
thus,

_'Twas what it was, 'tis not to be express'd;_
_Enquire no further, but conceive the best_.

But he was a Man that had good Learning, and was well vers'd in the
Sciences. What _Avenpace_[9] says at the end of his Discourse concerning
the _UNION_,