ABSTRACT
Among the perfect virtues which cause people to love their owners, al-Dabbagh emphasizes the role of knowledge. 'The soul loves its objects of knowledge be they noble or ignoble.'96 The pleasure derived from knowledge depends on the level of the object of knowledge. In as much as the object is nobler, the pleasure is greater. As in many places also here the contents and even the examples are al-Ghazall's. For example, al-Dabbagh says that even one who knows how to play chess has joy in his knowledge. His pleasure in playing the game diverts him from eating and drinking, and he feels sorrow if one ascribes to him inability to play well.97 Likewise, the hierarchy of the objects of knowledge, concerning dominion, beginning with the knowledge of the ruler of a country (in al-Dabbagh and in al-Ghazall the mayor of a city) and ending in both writers with God, the ruler of the cosmos, is taken from al-Ghazall whose description here is more detailed.98
