It vanishes…” [^2] Elsewhere...

It vanishes…” [^2] Elsewhere, Allah likens falsehood to foam: أَنْزَلَ مِن السَّمَاءِ مَآءً فَسَأَلَتْ أَوْدِيَةٌ بِقَدَرِهَا فَاحْتَمَلَ السَّيْلُ زَبَدًا رَابِيًا وَمِمَّا يُوقِدُونَ عَلَيْهِ فِي النَّارِ ابْتَغَاءَ حَلْيَةٍ أَوْ مَتَاعٍ زَبَدٌ مِثْلُهُ کَذَلِکَ يَضْرِبُ اللهُ الْحَقَّ وَالْبَاطِلَ فَأَمَّا الزَّبَدُ فَيَذْهَبُ جُفَاءً وَأَمَّا مَا يَنْفَعُ النَّاسَ فَيَمْکُثُ فِي الأَرْضِ کَذَلِکَ يَضْرِبُ اللهُ الأَمْثَالَ “He sends down water from the cloud, then watercourses flow (with water) according to their measure, and the torrent bears along the swelling foam, and from what they melt in the fire for the sake of making ornaments or apparatus arises a scum like it; thus does Allah compare the truth and falsehood; then as for the scum, it passes away as a worthless thing; and as for that which profits the people, it tarries in the earth; thus does Allah set forth parables.” [^3] There is a delicate point, which becomes apparent once we pay heed to the reality of foam, in the comparison between falsehood and foam.

Foam denotes bubbles which appear on top of water: when man looks at a water basin full of soap foam, he sees bubbles floating and going up and down. If a person looks at that water basin for the first time, it is the foam which attracts his attention and he becomes heedless of the water under that water basin and is the source of that foam.

He imagines that reality is this same foam which appears on top of the water floating up and down and has various colors, despite the fact that the foam has acquired its reality from that same water and is itself under the auspices of water. The world is synthesized of right and falsehood, but falsehood exists as a parasitical companion of right.

It is possible for falsehood to become more manifest than right, to have a lot of sparkling, to have a lot of bloom and thrive, but in the laws [or principles] of nature right is like water and falsehood is like its foam and does not last long and becomes exterminated and that which endures is right that is beneficial to people. Falsehood, like foam, is manifest for a few moments and after that, reveals its true reality and truth.

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