Excerpts from Commentary on The Book of the Kings of Truth (Hâshieh bar Haqq-ol Haqqâieq)

[Verses 1129 to 1149 of The Book of the Kings of Truth, elaborate on the creation of different kinds of "souls" called luminous, tenebrous, igneous, etc. In the following excerpt, Ostad Elahi refutes a deterministic interpretation of these verses].

[454] It is possible to compare the different levels of the divine creation to colors (white, black, green, red, blue, yellow, etc.). Although each of these colors has the same value and dignity, composites in which these colors are combined will result in paintings that have a unique quality and effect upon the observer.

[455] Similarly, a sick person may find that a certain medication tastes bitter, while a lethal poison tastes sweet and delicious. [But it is obvious that] if we want to distinguish the real value of the medication and poison, we cannot base our judgment on appearances or the patient’s taste. Things may also be granted different values based on human conventions and tastes (for example, gold, silver, copper, iron, or a precious stone versus an ordinary rock), though in reality there is nothing fundamentally different between them, and from the point of view of their creational identity and primordial quality, these creatures are equal. Besides, when used advisedly, iron and copper allow us to do things we simply could not do with gold or precious stones. And this holds true for other creatures as well.

Factors such as heredity, the effect of nutrition, education and milieu, passional drives, the requirements of time and place, etc., can bring someone at his own level to commit acts that are contrary to religion, ethics, and one's reason and conscience. However, this has nothing to do with the true essence of one's substance or creational identity. Consequently, the issue of determinism and free-will is irrelevant here. In other words, the Creator […] never creates evil, so evil actions cannot be traced back to the intrinsic quality of the creature. If a person commits one or more evil acts, the cause should be sought not in the divine will or original creation, but rather in the aforementioned factors or accidental circumstances, or in the fact that the person has followed the desires of his imperious self.

Accordingly, if creatures in the literature referred to as tenebrous, igneous, etc. […] were used for what they were created for, no harm would result. A sharp tool can be used for licit ends (for example, in the hands of a surgeon to operate on a sick organ, or to sever a gangrened limb), or to commit reprehensible acts such as murdering an innocent being. In any case, the Creator has nothing to do with the action of the person.

[Verses 1533 to 1627 of The Book of the Kings of Truth address the creation of human beings from "yellow mud" and "black mud." Ostad Elahi sheds some light on this image in the following excerpt]:

[457] We have often mentioned that the whole universe rests on the principle of causality. Science also shows us that things come to existence only through the interplay of two opposite natures, or negative and positive poles. […] In accordance with the laws of nature, human beings were formed from both a positive pole and a negative pole: light and darkness or, in other words, "yellow mud" and "black mud." Unless we draw something on blank paper by using opposite colors, for example white and black, no drawing will be visible. And as long as two wires, one positive and the other negative, do not make contact, there is no electricity. In the same way, as long as the soul, transparent and ethereal, is not combined with the body, which is obscure and materially dense, it does not come to life and has no perception. Consequently, yellow mud is an image that applies to the immaterial soul of celestial origin […] and black mud applies to the imperious and sensual self, which originates from matter and forms the physical world […]. Their union is not only the origin of life and perception, but also any good or bad actions human beings have the potential to perform.