9. `Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn `Imran al-Daqqaq رضي الله عنه said: Muhammad ibn Abu `Abd Allah al-Kufi said: Muhammad ibn Isma`il al-Barmaki said: Ja`far ibn Sulayman ibn Ayyub alKhazzaz said: `Abd Allah ibn al-Fadl al-Hashimi said I asked Abu `Abd Allah al-Sadiq عليه السلام: “Why did Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, place the sols in bodies when they had been in the highest of realms?” Thus, he عليه السلام replied, Verily, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, knows that whenever the spirits are left on their own in their elevated and high place, most of them dispute over the Lordship for other than the Mighty and High. Therefore, He placed them with His Power into the bodies, which He had decreed for them from the beginning of the Divine Decree. Bearing them in mind and having mercy over them, He made them in need of each other, and connected them to each other. He elevated the status of some over others, and sufficed some of them for others. He sent messengers to them and made them proofs over them as bearers of good news and warners. They commanded them to seek their Lord, and to be humble before God through acts of devotion. They set punishment and rewards for them, for now and in the future to promote the good and to forbid the evil. He humbled them by making them seek their own means of sustenance and earning so that they may know that they have a Lord and that they are created servants. He accept their service and through it they deserve the ever-lasting bounty and the eternal paradise. They should make peace rather than fight over what they have no right. He عليه السلام then added, O son of al-Fadl! Verily, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, intends for His Servants better than what they do for themselves. Do you not see that people seek nothing but self-elevation, until some of them claim to be God? Among them are people who falsely claim the Prophethood, and among them are some who falsely claim the reigns of divine leadership [Imamate], knowing full well their deficiencies, their inability, their limitations, their lowliness, their need, their lack, their suffering, and the death will overpower them and subdue them all. O son of al-Fadl! Verily, Allah the Blessed and Exalted wishes nothing but the best for His Servants. He does not oppress the people at all. On the contrary, it is the people who oppress themselves.