146

The exalted rational spirit is without an habitation,
and, without being in the body, is connected with it,
in a manner similar to that of a lover with his mis-
tress. This doctrine is very ancient with the Orien-
tals, as has been stated in the account about the Azar
Hoshangian, but with the first master among the
learned, Aristotle and his followers, it is a tradition.
According to general consent, the soul is eternal.

" Believe not that those who were killed in the way of God are dead ;
" on the contrary, they are living and nourished at the side of their
" Lord." i

To unite the soul with the body is as much as
to drive Adam from heaven; to long for the body
is to bear the commands of Eva; and to perform
bad actions is to eat of the forbidden tree; anger is
the serpent; lust is the peacock. They hold that
Iblis represents the power of imagination which
guides us, and the sensual influence which de-
nies the knowledge of words and things consentient
with reason, and contends with the power of rea-
son ; that what is stated in the law, that all angels
prostrated themselves before Adam, except Iblis,
signifies that all bodily powers, which are the an-
gels of the earth, are obedient to the soul of Adam,
except the po er of imagination, that is Iblis, which
is rebellious, and sometimes gets the better of
judgment. Reason says, that a corpse is to be

1 Koran, chap, 1IT. v. 163.