to prayer to be heard by all the people throughout the country. The first group says: “He has to be at the top of the minaret reciting the call to prayer to the universe, because we hear it. It is vibrant; it is lofty. For sure everyone cannot see him in that high position, but everyone can see him according to their degree on one of the steps when he climbs the minaret and when he descends it. They know that he ascends it, and that wherever it is that he appears, he is someone of high stature.” However, the other, satanic and foolish, group says: “No, his position is not at the top of the minaret; it’s at the bottom of the well, wherever it is he appears.” But no one at all has seen him at the bottom of the well, nor can they see him there. Let us suppose he was as heavy and lacking in will as a stone; surely he would have been at the bottom of the well and someone would have seen him there.
Now, the battlefield of these two opposing groups is the long distance stretching from the top of the minaret to the bottom of the well. The people of light, called God’s Party, point out the mu’ezzin at the top of the minaret to those with a lofty view. And to those whose sight cannot rise that far and to the short-sighted, they point him out on a step each according to his degree. A slight hint is enough for them, proving that the mu’ezzin is not a lifeless block of stone, but a perfect man who climbs upwards and appears and makes the call to prayer when he wishes. As for the other group, known as Satan’s Party, they pronounce stupidly: “Show him to everyone at the top of the minaret, or else his place is the bottom of the well.” In their folly they do not know that he is not shown to everyone at the top of the minaret because everyone’s sight does not rise that far. Also, in exaggerated fashion, they want to claim possession of the whole distance with the exception of the top of the minaret.
Then someone appears intending to solve the dispute between the two communities. He says to Satan’s Party: “You inauspicious group! If the supreme mu’ezzin’s position was at the bottom of the well, he would have been as lifeless, inanimate, and powerless as a stone. It could not have been him who appeared on the well’s steps and minaret’s degrees. Since you saw him on the latter, he is certain not to be powerless and lifeless. His position must be at the top of the minaret. In which case, either show that he is at the bottom of the well – which you can’t, nor can you make anyone believe that he is there – or be silent! The arena of your defence is the well bottom. The remaining space and that long distance is the arena of this blessed community; they have only to point him out somewhere other than at the bottom of the well, to win the case.”
Like this comparison, the Topic about the dispute with the Devil takes