ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Before Essence and Existence Simple Being With these terminological considerations in mind, we may now turn to a philosophical analysis of the texts. Let us begin with the Liber de Causis : (A) Liber de Causis , Proposition 1: And we give as an example of this being ( anniyya ), living, and man, because it must be that the thing is first being, then living, then man. Living is the proximate cause of the man, and being is its remote cause.

Thus being is more a cause for the man than living, because it [sc. being] is the cause of living, which is the cause of the man. Likewise, when you posit rationality as cause of the man, being is more a cause for the man than rationality, because it is the cause of its cause. The proof of this is that, when you remove the rational power from the man, he does not remain man, but he remains living, ensouled, [and] sensitive.

And when you remove living from him, he does not remain living, but he remains a being ( anniyya ), because being was not removed from him, but rather living, for the cause is not removed through the removal of its effect. Thus, the man remains a being. So when the individual is not a man, it is a living thing, and [when] not a living thing, it is only a being ( anniyya faqat ).17 The passage suggests a thought experiment, in which we strip away the features or attributes from man.

Of particular interest to us is that when all the attributes have been removed, what remains is anniyya faqat , "only a being" or "being alone." Compare this with the following passage, from the Arabic Plotinus: (B) Sayings of the Greek Sage I.10-11: The intellect became all things because its Originator is not like anything. The First Originator does not resemble anything, because all things are from Him, and because He has no shape and no proper form attached to Him.

For the**[End Page 300]** First Originator is one by Himself, I mean that He is only being ( anniyya faqat ), having no attribute (sifa) suitable to Him, because all the attributes are scattered forth from Him. Just as in passage (A), the phrase anniyya faqat is used here to refer to the pure being that remains when all determinate features, or "attributes" (si fat ), are removed. This is what I mean by saying that for both authors, being alone is "simple": it is free of attributes or predicates.