Response to Ḥīwī al-Balkhī

By the conduct of Adam all understanding men are admonished and do not turn away from the ways of God, but they who are godless in heart lay up anger and are deprived of good; they cry not for help, because they are bound in their folly.

When his sons brought offerings, God favored the younger, because he brought of the best of his fatlings to the ruling king; what was vile and refuse the elder brought to the sanctuary. So He let him know that he was despised, but he did not repent, he hated.

He struck his brother, and God inquired of him so that he might confess, but in his reply he feigned [innocence] with cunning and craft. Therefore has God wreaked His vengeance on him with a ruling anger, for He avenges the blood of His servants and redeems their soul.

I shall reply to your question with a strong reply. You say, “Why has He not guarded him [Abel] so that his posterity should not have been destroyed?” Thus should you have said if there were but one world and one habitation, but since there is a second world, He chose everything with a view for reproof. [ . . . ]

You have asked further concerning the kinds of suffering; hunger and sickness, fear and desolation and destruction, and heat and cold, why they are not kept from men? All these are but one question and you have multiplied words.

Know and understand that God chastises His creatures for their good, that they may know the pain of chastisement and the bitterness thereof; He delivers them to it that they may forbear to do wrong. For they would not know [what punishment was] if He had withheld [suffering] from them. [ . . . ]

You have asked, “Why was the earth destroyed together with man, also the fowl and creeping things, the beasts and the cattle?” All of them were created for his [man’s] glory and they were of one disposition with him, therefore they were drawn after him to destruction and desolation.

You have complained, “Why has He left a remnant of the seed of evildoers?” But why should He not have left Noah, since he had not sinned. Had He destroyed him, you would have said, “Does He consume in flame the righteous together with the wicked!”

If concerning cattle and worldly goods you complain, how much more would you complain if the righteous and the pure were lost? Now every wise man can understand from your words that you are mocking and practicing deceit.

If a righteous and wise man has a controversy with a foolish man, whether he be angry or laugh there will be no rest. Thus you turn yourself about to find slander that may be spread, and have asked concerning fat and blood, how they could be accepted as sweet savor.

Our God has explained its meaning in the law handed down to us, that the life of all flesh is in the blood, therefore has He given it to us to bring on the altar as an atonement, that we may remember that we are but flesh and thereby be humbled and reproved.

Concerning the evil inclination you have inquired, why He has not removed it. But, indeed, you have asked thereby to remove His commandments and His prohibitions. Perhaps, you, O fool!, who counsels his Creator, desires also that neither man nor his habitation should have been created. [ . . . ]

[On the other hand,] they who said, “Why have you made us come up [out of Egypt?”] were called foolish people. You, however, on account of your abuse and blasphemy, are becoming disgraced. Indeed, fine speech becomes not a fool, much less do lying lips cloaked with mischief and iniquity.

As the proverb of the Arabs says, “The ostriches neither see nor carry burdens,” so have you turned to those who are called portion and possession and have disregarded that to God, your Lord, are the heavens, the world, and the fullness thereof.

You have mocked the covenant [of Abraham] and have likened it to mutilation. But, indeed, men do not start life without the imprint of a mark, for from the time of their birth, their navel is shrunk, and circumcision likewise saves life from a thing that is superfluous.

[Abram] was dear unto Him, so He enlarged his name [to Abraham,] which you have considered an enchantment. But does God practice soothsaying? Far be it from Him. “There is no enchantment with Jacob, neither is there any divination with Israel, and now shall it be said of them what God has wrought.”

And there is no contradiction between the two verses [see Genesis 22:17; Deuteronomy 7:7], for his [Abraham’s] children were the fewest in their own eyes though their numbers were like the stars. And though many times parts of them were counted, yet all of them were never completely counted or written down.