believers. However, when Almighty God weighs up deeds with absolute justice on the supreme scales at the Last Judgement, He will judge in accordance with the predominance of good deeds over evils and vice versa. Seeing that the causes of evil deeds are numerous and their existence is easy, sometimes He veils numerous bad deeds with a single good deed.
That is to say, dealings in this world should be in accordance with divine justice. If a person’s good points are greater in regard to quality or quantity than his bad points, he is deserving of love and respect. Indeed, one should forgive numerous bad points on account of a single laudable virtue. However, due to the vein of tyranny in his nature, at the promptings of Satan, the person forgets the hundred virtues of others because of a single bad point; he is hostile towards his believing brother, and commits sins. Just as a fly’s wing covering the eye conceals a mountain, so too, the veil of hatred makes man conceal virtues as great as a mountain due to a single evil resembling a fly’s wing; he forgets them, is hostile towards his brother believer, and becomes a tool of corruption in the life of society.
By means of another wile resembling this one, Satan corrupts the integrity of peoples’ thoughts. He impairs sound judgement concerning the truths of belief and damages integrity and correctness of thought. It is like this:
He desires to destroy hundreds of evidences proving the truths of belief with a slight hint refuting them. Whereas it is an established principle that “a single proof is superior to a hundred denials.” The statement of a witness proving a claim is preferable to a hundred people denying it. Consider this truth by means of the following comparison:
There is a palace with a hundred doors all closed. If one of its doors is opened, the palace may be entered and all the doors opened. If all the doors are open and one or two are closed, it may not be said that the palace cannot not be entered.
Thus, the truths of belief are the palace. Each evidence is a key; it proves the truths and opens a door. If one of the doors remains closed, the truths of belief cannot be abandoned and denied. Satan however, in consequence of certain things or by means of heedlessness or ignorance, points out a door that has remained closed, thus causing a person to disregard all the positive evidences. He deceives the person, saying: “See, this palace cannot be entered. Perhaps it isn’t a palace and perhaps there’s nothing inside it.”
O wretched man afflicted by Satan and his wiles! If you want the life of religion and of society and personal life all to be healthy, and if you want integrity of thought, a sound view, and a sincere heart, weigh up your