الطَّبيعَةِ وإسنادُ الخَلقِ إلَيهَا Attributing Creation to Nature

13ـ الإمامُ‏الصّادقُ (عَلَيهِ الّسَلامُ) ـ في جوابِ قولِ المُفَضَّلِ : يا مَولايَ ، إنّ قَوماً يَزْعُمونَ أنَّ هذا مِن فِعلِ الطَّبيعَةِ ـ : سَلْهُمْ عَن هذهِ الطَّبيعَةِ : أهِيَ شَيْءٌ لَهُ عِلمٌ ‏وقُدرَةٌ على مِثْلِ هذهِ‏ الْأفْعالِ ، أمْ لَيست كذلكَ ؟ فإنْ أوْجَبوا لَها العِلْمَ والُقْدرَةَ فما يَمْنَعُهُم مِن إثْباتِ‏الخالِقِ؟ فإنّ هذهِ صَنْعَتُهُ ، و إنْ زَعَموا أ نّها تَفْعَلُ هذهِ الأفْعالَ بغَيرِ عِلْمٍ ولا عَمْدٍ وكانَ في أفْعالِها ما قَد تَراهُ مِن الصَّوابِ والحِكمَةِ عُلِمَ أنّ هذا الفِعْلَ للخالِقِ الحَكيمِ ، وأنّ الّذي سَمَّوهُ طبيعَةً هُو سُنّةٌ في خَلْقِهِ الجارِيَةُ على ما أجْراها علَيهِ.


13– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) was asked by Mufazzal, ‘O my master, there is a group of people that claim that this [creation] is the doing of nature [itself]’, the Imam (AS) said, ‘Ask them about this nature, does it have knowledge and power to carry out such actions [as creation] or not? For if they answer that it has knowledge and power, then what is preventing them from acknowledging the existence of a creator? – for verily this is His creation. If they claim that nature does these actions without knowledge or without purpose while having witnessed the exactness and wisdom therein, it is [obviously] known that this is the work of a very wise creator, and what they have called ‘nature’ is the very system running through creation.’[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 3, p. 67]