And what was related from him that he said: "We were commanded, if we disagreed, to seek judgment from Ali." And his saying to the Bedouin during his caliphate when our Master Amir Almuminin—exalted be His mention—broke one of his [the Bedouin's] ribs and he sought aid against Him from Sakad, he [Sakad] said to him: "That is My hand; it does what it wills."

The Iraqis said regarding these "good deeds" we mentioned: The aloes-wood from which pleasant scents emerge, and every piece of wood burned in the fire, is the body of the Second—may God curse him. The pleasant scent smelled from the wood is these words we mentioned which he spoke, and he was thus rewarded for them.

(508) Our sheikh Abu Abd Allah—may God sanctify his soul—differed with them and presented the Truth in his statement and his narration from the Scholar—exalted be his glory: "The body of the Second and his element are turbidity and darkness, and from them are generated medicines that are loathsome in smell and use. As for the varieties of perfume differing in taste and purity, they are from the return of the bodies of the believers."

Rather, the "good deeds" we mentioned—he has already been rewarded for them by the sovereignty he achieved, the elevation of his command, and the obedience of the Dark World to him until this time of ours—so know that.

(509) Among the witnesses that point to reincarnation is what was related from our Lord Messenger of God—exalted be his glory—that he said: "I saw the father of the Arabs, Rabi’a ibn Karm, as a grey camel eating from the ends of the trees."

(510) al-Adawi related from Hammad from our Master al-Sadiq—exalted be his glory—that he said upon seeing a dung-beetle dragging its dung: "This is sufficient humiliation for the disbeliever."