The Kitāb al-Kašf and the Kitāb al-Šaǧara, two 4th/10th century Ismaili works, share a dualistic vision of the world, marked by a continuous struggle between good and evil, light and darkness. Evil is identified with the exoteric religion deprived of its esoteric dimension. It is caused by a satanic pair, typified by Abū Bakr and ʿUmar b. al-Ḫaṭṭāb, the archetypes of the antagonists (aḍdād) opposing the Prophets and their Imams, from Adam to the advent of the Resurrector (al-Qāʾim). Through a personalized reading of selected verses from the Qurʾān, the authors of both works interpret the rejection of ʿAlī’s legacy by the first two caliphs as the paradigm of all opposition against the Imām’s esoteric knowledge leading to salvation. When ʿUmar represents the principle of evil in se, Abū Bakr stands for the weakness of the largest part of mankind, eager to be induced into error. By introducing into this doctrine the Aristotelian distinction between potentiality and actuality, the Kitāb al-Šaǧara develops an encompassing theory about the dynamics of evil.

中文翻译：

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潜在的恶魔和现实中的恶魔：根据 4 世纪/10 世纪伊斯梅尔主义的两个邪恶原则

这Kitāb al-Kašf和Kitāb al-Šaǧara, 两部 4 世纪/10 世纪的伊斯玛仪派作品，共享一个二元世界观，以善与恶、光明与黑暗之间的持续斗争为标志。邪恶等同于被剥夺了深奥维度的通俗宗教。它是由一对撒旦造成的，以 Abū Bakr 和 ʿUmar b 为代表。al-Ḫaṭṭāb，敌对者的原型（阿达德) 反对先知和他们的伊玛目，从亚当到复活者的出现 (al-Qāʾim). 通过对古兰经中精选经文的个性化阅读，这两部作品的作者将前两位哈里发拒绝 ʿAlī 的遗产解释为所有反对伊玛目通向救赎的深奥知识的范例。当ʿUmar代表邪恶的原则本质上, Abū Bakr 代表人类最大部分的弱点，渴望被引入错误。通过在这一学说中引入亚里士多德对潜能和现实的区分，Kitāb al-Šaǧara发展了一个关于邪恶动力的包容性理论。