Reminder: How admirable is Shibli’s intellect, and how admirable his prose!
I said: How admirable is Shibli’s intellect, and how admirable his prose! They asked me: Why do you praise Shibli’s mind and extol it with such lavish commendation? I replied: Because he recognised, yes, recognised with true and thorough understanding, the secret of this nation’s decline when it turned away from its original source and rushed instead towards human doctrines in jurisprudence and creed, imitating them with the deference of the incapable and revering them with the sanctity of the heedless, until they seemed like revealed texts, beyond scrutiny and untouched by criticism. He perceived that the malady lay in this blind adherence, which had disabled reason, constrained thought, and divided people into factions and parties; so he called them, boldly and openly, to the Book of God, falsehood cannot approach it from before it nor from behind it, a revelation from the Wise, the Praiseworthy, which does not chafe at reason when reason is rightly employed, nor abandon the heart when intention is sincere.
He also discerned the secret of their fragmentation when they became absorbed in internal disputes, quarrelling over secondary matters in ways that destroyed fundamental principles, and contesting minor details in a manner that made them forget the essentials. He diverted them from this idle clamour, which yields nothing but weakness and brings only frailty in its wake, and redirected their gaze and insight towards the external trials coming from certain orientalists among Jews and Christians, who applied their pens while we were heedless, stirred doubts while we slept, and sowed division when we were most in need of unity.
They then asked: And why do you praise his prose so highly? I answered: Because thought, however lofty and however pure, if not presented in a captivating literary style, is lost, like a jewel buried in the earth unless fashioned into a splendid necklace. Meanings remain imprisoned within the breast unless they find words to release them, expressions to clarify them, and a subtle rhythm to carry them into the hearts. Shibli is unmatched in eloquence and excellence of expression; when he writes, you feel that words are obedient to his meanings, and that language does not falter in serving his ideas, but advances them smoothly and gracefully, combining the strength of argument with the delicacy of cadence, and the frankness of invitation with the beauty of presentation.
He is therefore a mind that discerns the seat of the ailment, and a tongue that describes the remedy with skill; a clear thinker and a refined stylist. If I praise his intellect, I do him no injustice; and if I commend his prose, I exceed not the truth. For intellect without expression is limited in its effect, and expression without intellect is mere ornament, of no real benefit. In Shibli, intellect and eloquence are united; and thus he deserves to be described in these words: How admirable is Shibli’s intellect, and how admirable his prose!
(by: Dr Mohammed Akram Nadwi, Oxford, 14 Ramadan 1447)
