PAGANS AND GNOSTICSMe~allyane in the second decade of the seventh century. Babai accused
f:l<nana of chaldiota and claimed that he had said that "destiny and
fate are the cause of everything and that everything is guided by the
stars"; that a person's horoscope (Syr. beth mawlideh) determined
whether he fornicated or committed adultery; that he denied judgment,
punishment, and the resurrection of the body; and that he said that
only the soul is saved.^182 Whether or not l:fenana actually said such
things, it is significant that Babai expressed the threat he posed in
these terms for the purposes of polemic. l:fenana did employ an alle-
gorical interpretation of scripture to explain its spiritual meaning^183
that was dangerously close to the double truth of the Marcionites and
to the esoteric interpretation of the Zandlks.
Qur'anic assertions of the omnipotence and providence of God and
of human responsibility were directed against a similar kind of fatalism
among pagan Arabs. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that in this
respect Muslims originally participated in a generally contemporary
reaction against the belief in fate at the end of the Sasanian period.
The Qur'an insists on the power (Ar. qadar) of God to determine
events on earth, on His sustenance (M.P. rizq) of His creatures, and
on His justice in meting out rewards and punishments. There is a
special point to the way the Qur'an accuses Korah (Qarun) of sinning
by exulting in his wealth and claiming that it had been given to him
because of knowledge that he possessed,184 The point is clear that it
is God, not people or fate, who causes whatever success or failure is
experienced on earth and that God's omnipotence, not impersonal fate
or any "special knowledge," determines events. God is the Lord of
Sirius (Sura 53:49) and magic only works if He permits it (Sura 2: 102).
Sura 5 :63-64 emphasizes God's omnipotence against rabbis and priests
who excuse their evil-doing by saying that God's hand is tied. The
Qur'an goes so far as to assert the complete power of God even to
predetermine unhappiness and misery:
No disaster occurs on earth or to yourselves that is not in a Book
before We bring it about. Behold! that is easy for God-so that you
should not grieve for the sake of that which has escaped you, nor182 Babai Magni, "Liber de Unione," CSCO, Scr. Syri, 34:82, 35:67; Chabot, Syn-
odicon, p. 626; Hoifmann, Persischer Martyrer, pp. 102, 194.
183 V6iibus, School of Nisibis, pp. 243-44.
184 Qur'an, 28:76-82. Tha'alibi (Lata'if, p. 9) explains that his knowledge was the
study of alchemy.