§{Ghayat Al-Hakim}> Inasmuch as I became a student of this scholar and inasmuch as I learned from him, I pray to Allah to bestow rest and mercy on his soul. I have read two books written by Al-Muqaddim, Plato. The first is titled The Book of Major Laws, and the second is The Book of Minor Laws. He presents in the first book some of the ugly functions of images such as walking on water, the appearance of snakes in invented images that do not exist in the real world, causing rain to fall in a non-rainy season and preventing it from falling in a rainy season, emergence of flames and luminous meteors, thunder and lightning in the sky, occurrence of out-ofseason thunderbolts, setting ablaze the ships of the enemy and burning whomever you wish from a far distance, walking in air, planets rising in the wrong time and observing them when they are falling from their position in the sky down to the center of Earth, talking to the deceased, breaking u p of the O and the D into several pieces, transforming sticks and ropes into snakes that devour anyone thrown to them and covering long distances in no time. All of the above actions are the functions of images and utilizing their spiritual forces and transfusing them in their static primordial matters. Subsequently, these primordial matters become live and effective spirits that produce unprecedented miraculous effects and results. His philosophy books are replete with images which he urges everyone to know and pursue. He cites Pythagoras in proving that these images are similar to these, there are eternal spiritual essences which do exist, but they are beyond the mind's perception. Plato's book on minor laws does not match his book on major laws except one chapter in which he talks about the function of rational as well as irrational beings. He does deal with this topic in his major book on laws. Gabir wrote a book called The Compilation, in which he discusses the function of the rational being. However, he discusses these functions on the natural level whereby he seeks to compare them with the functions of nature.
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