we have the most beneficial and useful things for us. by reason we were given preference over nonrational animals until we owned them controlled them tamed them and directed them in ways that benefited us. by reason we attained all that elevates us improves and makes our lives pleasant and we reach our goal and desire. so by reason we attained the making of ships and their use until we reached what the sea had cut off between us and it. by reason we attained medicine which contains many benefits for our bodies and all other industries that benefit us and are beneficial to us. by reason we attained the mysterious matters that are far from us hidden and concealed from us. by reason we knew the shape of the earth and the universe and the size of the sun the moon and all the planets and their distances and movements. by reason we reached knowledge of the creator the almighty who is the greatest thing we have attained and the most beneficial thing we have attained. in short it is the thing without which our condition would be that of beasts children and lunatics and by which we conceive of our rational actions before they appear to the senses so we see them as if we had sensed them then we represent their images through our sensory actions and they appear in accordance with what we have represented and imagined of them. if this is its extent its place its danger and its majesty then it is right for us not to lower it from its rank nor to lower it from its degree nor to make it while it is the ruler the ruled nor while it is the rein the pulled nor while it is the followed a follower. rather we refer matters to it consider them through it and rely on it in them so we carry them out according to its carrying out and stop them according to its stopping and we do not impose on it passion which is its affliction and its troublemaker.
عندنا وأنفع الأشياء لنا وأجدها علينا. فبالعقل فضلنا على الحيوان غير الناطق حتى ملكناها وسسناها وذللناها وصرفناها في الوجوه العائدة منافعها علينا، وبالعقل أدركنا جميع ما يرفعنا ويحسن ويطيب به عيشنا ونصل إلى بغيتنا ومرادنا. فأنا بالعقل أدركنا صناعة السفن واستعمالها حتى وصلنا بها إلى ما قطع وحال البحر دوننا ودونه، وبه نلنا الطب الذي فيه الكثير من مصالح أجسادنا وسائر الصناعات العائدة علينا النافعة لنا، وبه أدركنا الأمور الغامضة البعيدة منا الخفية المستورة عنا، وبه عرفنا شكل الأرض والفلك وعظم الشمس والقمر وسائر الكواكب وأبعادها وحركتها، وبه وصلنا إلى معرفة البارئ عز وجل الذي هو أعظم ما استدركنا وأنفع ما أصبنا. وبالجملة فإنه الشيء الذي لولاه كانت حالتنا حالة البهائم والأطفال والمجانين، والذي به نتصور أفعالنا العقلية قبل ظهورها للحس فنراها كأن قد أحسسناها ثم نتمثل بأفعالنا الحسية صورها فتظهر مطابقة لما تمثلناه وتخيلناه منها. وإذا كان هذا مقداره ومحله وخطره وجلالته فحقيق علينا أن لا نحطه عن رتبته ولا ننزله عن درجته، ولا نجعله وهو الحاكم محكوما عليه، ولا وهو الزمام مزموما، ولا وهو المتبوع تابعا، بل نرجع الأمور إليه ونعتبرها به ونعتمد فيها عليه، فنمضيها على إمضائه ونوقفها على إيقافه، ولا نسلط عليه الهوى الذي هو آفته ومكدره