Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

SECTION THREE

Suluk and`Ibada

`Ibada , or service, of the One God and the negation of everything else, as an object of service and worship, is one of the essential teachings of God-sent Messengers, a feature never absent from the teachings of any prophet. As we know, in the sacred religion of Islam, too, worship occupies a prominent position, with the only difference that worship in Islam is not regarded as a series of devotional rituals separate from everyday life and as pertaining solely to another world. Worship in Islam is located in the context of life and is an unalienable part of the Islamic philosophy of life.

Aside from the fact that some of the Islamic acts of worship are performed collectively, Islam has structured them in such a fashion that their performance automatically ensures the performance of other duties of life as well. For instance,salat is a complete expression of man`s servitude and surrender to Allah. It has been specified in such a manner that even a man who desires to pray in a lonely corner is forced to observe certain things of moral and social relevance, such as cleanliness, respect for the rights of others, observance of punctuality, possession of a sense of direction, control over one`s emotions, and expression of good-will and benevolence towards other righteous servants of Allah.

From the Islamic point of view, every good and beneficial action, if performed with a pure, God-seeking intention, is viewed as an act of worship. Hence, learning, acquisition of knowledge and livelihood and social services, if performed for Allah`s sake, are acts of worship. Nevertheless, Islam also specifies a system of rituals and formal acts of worship such assalat ,sawm (fasting) etc., each having a specific philosophy for performing it.

The Levels of Worship

Men have varying attitudes towards worship. Not all of them view it in the same light. For some, worship is a kind of deal, a barter and an exchange of labour performed for wages. Like an ordinary worker who spends his time and labour for the benefit of an employer and expects a daily wage in return, the devotee also endeavours for the sake of the Divine reward, which, however, he would receive in the next world. Like the labourer, for whom his labour bears fruit in the form of his wages and who would not work except for a wage, the benefit of the devotee’s worship, according to the outlook of this particular group of devotees, lies in the wages and rewards which shall be granted to the devotees in the form of the things and the means of comfort in the other world.

However, every employer pays wages in return for the benefit which he derives from his employees, but what benefit can the Master of the heavens derive from the labours of a weak and feeble servant of His? Moreover, if we assume that the Great Employer does remunerate His servants in the form of the blessings and rewards of the Hereafter, then why does He not reward them without any effort and consumption of labour and energy? These are questions which never occur to this class of the pious. From their viewpoint, the essence of worship lies in certain visible bodily movements and oscillations of the tongue. This is one attitude towards worship. Unrefined and vulgar it may be, it is, in the words of Ibn Sina, as he puts it in the ninth chapter of his book titledAl- > Isharat , A The attitude of the unenlightened and God-ignorant is acceptable only by the plebeians.

Another approach towards worship is that of the enlightened. Here, the aforementioned problems of worker and employer, labour and wage, have no relevance. How can they be relevant when worship is viewed by them as the ladder to attain nearness to Allah, as the means of human sublimity, edification and upliftment of the soul and its flight to the invisible sphere of spiritual greatness, an invigorating exercise of one’s spiritual faculties and a triumph of the spirit over the corporeal? It is the highest expression of the gratitude and love of the human being towards his Creator, his declaration of love for the Most Perfect and the Absolutely Beautiful One and, finally, his wayfaring towards Allah!

According to this approach, worship has a form and a soul, an appearance and an inner meaning. That which is expressed by the tongue and the movements of other parts of the body, is the form, the outer mold, and the appearance of worship. Its soul and meaning is something else. The soul of worship is inextricably connected with the significance attached to worship by the devotee, his attitude towards it, his inner motive that drives him to it, the ultimate satisfaction and benefit he derives from it, and the extent to which he covers the Divine path in his journey towards Allah.

The Approach ofNahjul-Balagha

What is the approach and the attitude adopted byNahjul-Balagha towards worship?Nahjul-Balagha takes an enlightened view of worship or, rather, it is, after the Holy Qur’an and the Sunna of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household) , the main source of inspiration towards the enlightened approach to worship in the Islamic tradition.

As we know, of the most sublime and imaginative themes of Islamic literature, both Arabic and Persian, is the relationship between the ardent love of the devotee for the Divine Essence expressed in delicate and elegant passages in the form of sermons, prayers, allegories, parables, both in prose and in verse. When we compare them with the pre-Islamic notions prevalent in the regions which subsequently constituted the domains of Islam, it is surprising to observe the gigantic leap that was taken by Islam in bestowing depth, scope, sweetness, and delicacy to human thought. Islam transformed a people who worshipped idols, images, fire, or degraded the Eternal God to the level of a human A Father, and whose flight of imagination prompted them to identify the A Father with the A Son, or who officially considered the Ahura Mazda to be a material form whose statues they erected in every place, into a people whose intellect could grasp and evolve the most abstract of concepts, the most sophisticated of ideas, the most elegant of thoughts and the most sublime of notions.

How was the human intellect so radically transformed? What revolutionized those people’s logic, elevated their thoughts, refined their emotions and sublimated their values? How did it all happen? Theal-Mu`allaqat al-sab`a andNahjul-Balagha stand only one generation apart from each other. Both of those generations of Arabs were proverbial in eloquence and literary genius. As to the content, they stand as far apart as the earth and the sky. The former sing of the beauty of the beloved one, the pleasures of love, of gallantry, of horses, spears, the nightly assaults and compose eulogy and lampoon; the latter contains the most sublime of the ideologies of man.

In order to elucidate the approach of Ali (A.S)  towards worship, we now shall proceed to cite few examples fromNahjul-Balagha , beginning with a statement about the differences in various approaches of people towards worship.

The Worship of Freemen

A Some people worship Allah out of their desire for rewards; this is the worship of traders. Another group worships Allah out of fear; this is the worship of slaves. Yet another group worships Allah out of gratitude; this is the worship of freemen. [1]

A Even if Allah had not warned those disobedient to Him of chastisement, it was obligatory by way of gratefulness for His favors that He should not be disobeyed. [2]

A Lord! I have not worshipped Thee out of fear of Your Hell nor out of greed for Your Paradise; but I found Thee worthy of being worshipped, so I worshipped Thee. [3]

Remembering Allah

The roots of all spiritual, moral and social aspects of worship lie in one thing: the remembrance of Allah and the obliviousness towards everything else. In one of its verses, the Holy Qur’an refers to the educative and the invigorating effect of worship and says the following:

Salat protects from unseemly acts. (29:45)

Adhere to salat so that you may remain in My remembrance . (20:14)

This is a reminder of the fact that the person who prays remembers Allah and lives by the knowledge that He is always observing and watching him. He does not forget that he himself is His servant.

The remembrance of Allah, which is the aim of worship, is the burnishing of the heart and the object of its purification. It prepares the heart for the reflection of the Divine Light in it. Speaking of the remembrance of Allah and of the meaning of worship, Ali (A.S)  says the following:

A Certainly Allah, the Glorified One, has made His remembrance the burnishing of the hearts which makes them hear after deafness, see after blindness and which makes them submissive after unruliness. In all periods and times when there were no prophets, there were individuals to whom He spoke in whispers through their conscience and intellect. [4]

These sentences speak of the wonderful effect of the Divine remembrance on the heart, to the extent of making it capable of receiving the Divine inspiration and bringing it in intimate communion with Allah.

The Levels of Devotion

In the same sermon are explained the various spiritual states and levels attained by the worshippers in the course of their devotional pursuit. Ali (A.S)  describes such men in these words:

A The angels have surrounded them and peace is showered upon them. The doors of heaven are opened for them and the abodes of bliss, of which He had informed them, have been prepared for them. He is pleased with their struggle and admires their station. When they call upon Him, they breathe the fragrance of His forgiveness and mercy. [5]

Nights of the Devout

From the point of view ofNahjul-Balagha , the world of worship is another world altogether. Its delights are not comparable with any pleasures of the three-dimensional corporeal world. The world of worship effuses movement, progress and journey, a journey which is quite unlike physical travel to new lands. It is a spiritual journey to the A nameless city. It does not distinguish night from day because it is always drenched in light. In it, there is no trace of darkness or pain, for it is purity, sincerity, and delight all over. Happy is the man, in the view ofNahjul-Balagha , who sets his foot into this world and is refreshed by its invigorating breeze. Such a man, then, no longer cares whether he lays his head on a silk pillow or on a stone:

A Blessed is he who carries out his duties towards his Master and endures the hardships they entail. He allows himself no sleep at night until it overwhelms him. Then he lies down with the palm of his hand under his head as his pillow. He is among those whom the thought of the Day of Judgment keeps awake at nights, whose bed remains vacant, whose lips hum in Allah’s remembrance and whose sins have been erased by their prolonged earnest supplication for forgiveness These are the A Party of Allah; A surely [members of] Allah`s Party are the ones who prosper! [6]

The nights of the men of Allah are like shiny days,

Gloomy nights do not exist for the enlightened.

The Profile of the Pious

In the last section we discussed the viewpoint ofNahjul-Balagha with respect to worship. We found thatNahjul-Balagha does not regard worship as a series of cut-and-dried, lifeless rituals. The bodily movements constitute the apparent motion of worship while its soul and meaning are something else. Only when endowed with meaning and spirit is the worship worthy of its name. Real worship means the transcending of the three-dimensional world into the spiritual sphere, which is a world of perpetual delight and sublimation for the soul and the source of vigour and strength for the heart which has its own pleasures.

There are many references to the characteristics of the pious and the devout inNahjul-Balagha . Often,Nahjul-Balagha sketches the profiles of the pious and the devout and describes their characteristic fear of Allah, their devotion and delight in worship, their constant sorrow and grief over sins. It describes their frequent recitation of the Holy Qur’an, their occasional ecstatic experiences and states which they achieve in the course of their worshipful endeavours and struggle against their corporeal self. At times, it discusses the role of worship in lifting the human soul from the pall of sins and black deeds and often points out to the effect of worship in curing moral and psychological ailments. At other times, it speaks about the unadulterated, unsurpassable and pure delights and ecstasies of the followers of the spiritual path, the sincere worshippers of Allah.

Night Vigils

A During the night, they are on their feet reciting the verses of the Holy Qur’an one after the other, tarrying to deliberate about their meanings and thereby instilling gnostic pathos into their souls and by means of it seek remedy for their spiritual ailments. What they hear from the Holy Qur’an seems to them as if they are witnessing it with their own eyes. If they come across a verse arousing eagerness (for Paradise), they lean towards it eagerly, their souls clinging to it avidly, as if they are approaching their ultimate goal. And when they come across a verse that instills fear, their hearts’ ear is turned in attention to it as if they themselves hear the cracking sound of the flames of Hell Fire. Their backs are bent in reverence and their foreheads, palms, knees and toes rest on the ground as they beseech Allah for salvation. But when the day dawns, they are kind, patient, scholarly, pious and righteous. [7]

THE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE

A He has revived his intellect and slain his self until his body became lean and its bulkiness shrunk, and stubbornness turned into tenderness (of heart). Then an effulgence, like a thunderbolt, descended upon his heart, illuminating the path before him, opening all the doors and leading him straight into the gateway of Peace. Now his feet, carrying his body, are firmly rooted in the position of safety (on theSirat ) and comfort because he kept his heart busy with good deeds and won the good pleasure of his God. [8]

As we observe, this passage speaks of another kind of life,the life of intellect . It speaks of struggle against the carnal self (al-nafs al- > ammara bil su’ ) and its destruction; it speaks of exercises of the spirit and the body, about lightening which, as a result of such an exercise, illuminates the being of the follower and brightens his spiritual world; it speaks of the stages and targets that the devotee’s earnest soul reaches on its way until it attains the last and the highest stage of man’s spiritual journey. The Holy Qur’an says the following:

O man! You art labouring unto thy Master laboriously, and thou shalt encounter Him. (84:6)

Ali (A.S) , in the passage cited above, speaks about the inner peace, contentment and tranquility of the soul which a man’s restless, disturbed and anxious heart ultimately attains:

Indeed, the hearts are at rest in Allah > s remembrance. (13:28)

In sermon 228, Ali (A.S)  describes the significance attached by this class of devotees to spiritual life-the life of the heart: A They see that the worldly people attach great importance to the death of their bodies, but they themselves attach much greater importance to the death of hearts of the living (Sermon 230).

Ali (A.S)  describes the ecstatic eagerness of the earnest souls which impels them to move onwards on the path of spiritual perfection in these words: A They lived in the society and participated in its affairs with their bodies, while their souls rested in the higher spiritual spheres. [10]

A Had there been no preordained time of death for each of them, their spirits would not have remained in their bodies even for the twinkling of an eye because of their eagerness for the Divine reward and their fear of chastisement. [11]

A He did everything only for the sake of Allah, so Allah also made him His own. [12]

The esoteric knowledge and emanated insight, revealed to the heart of the follower of the spiritual path as a result of self-education and self-refinement, is described in these words:

A The knowledge that bursts upon them and surrounds them is endowed with absolute certainty, and their soul attains the highest degree of conviction. They easily bear what the easy-going regard as harsh and unbearable. They endear what makes the ignorant recoil with horror. [13]

The Purging of Sins

From the point of view of Islamic teachings, every sin leaves a black stain and the effects of distortion in the human heart which, in turn, weakens a person`s aptitude for good and righteous deeds. Consequently, it further causes him to deviate and commit other sins and foul deeds as well. On the other hand, worship, prayer and remembrance of Allah develop a human being’s religious consciousness, strengthen his aptitude for virtuous deeds and diminish his proneness to sinning. This means that worship and remembrance of Allah efface the bad effects of sins, replacing them with fondness for virtue and goodness.

InNahjul-Balagha, there is a sermon which deals withsalat ,zakat and the delivering of the trust back to its owner. Having emphasized the importance ofsalat , Ali (A.S)  further says the following: A Certainly, prayer removes sins like autumn strips leaves off from trees, and it liberates you from the rope (of sins which is) tied around your neck. The Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  likened it to a refreshing stream at one’s door in which one takes a purifying bath five times during the day and the night. Will, after so much cleansing, any dirt remain on him? [14]

Moral Remedy

In sermon 196, after making a reference to evil conduct, such as disobedience, oppression, injustice and arrogance, Ali (A.S)  says the following: A It is on account of these perils that Allah has encouraged His believing servants to performsalat and to payzakat , to fast during the days when fast is obligatory; these acts of worship provide their limbs with peace and rest, casting fear in their eyes, softening their spirits, cultivating a sense of humility in their hearts and purging them from pride.

Intimacy and Ecstasy

A Lord! You, of all beloved ones, are the most attached to Your lovers and the most ready to trust those who place their trust in You. You see, You look into their secrets and know that which lies in their conscience and are aware of the extent of their inner vision. Consequently, their secrets are open to You and their hearts look up to You in eager apprehension. In loneliness, Your remembrance is their friend and consolation. In distress Your help is their protection. [15]

There are some people devoted to remembrance of Allah who have chosen it in place of all worldly goods. [16]

In sermon 148, Ali (A.S)  alludes to the coming times of the Promised al-Mahdi (–), may Allah hasten his appearance, and at the end of his discourse describes the courage, wisdom, insight and attributes of the Imam (–) and his supporters. Then a group of people will be made ready by Allah like the swords sharpened by the blacksmith. The ir sight would be brightened by revelations the inner meaning of the Holy Qur’an would be familiar to their ears and they would be given to drink the cup of wisdom every morning and evening. [17]

SECTION FOUR

GOVERNMENT AND JUSTICE

Nahjul-Balagha on State

One of the frequently discussed issues inNahjul-Balagha is government and justice. To anyone who goes through the book, it is evident to what extent Ali (A.S)  is sensitive to the issues related to government and justice. He considers them to be of paramount importance. For those who lack an understanding of Islam but have knowledge of the teachings of other religions, it is astonishing why a religious personality should devote himself to this sort of problem. Don’t such problems relate to the world and worldly life?! Shouldn’t a sage keep aloof from the matters of the world and society? They thus wonder.

On the other hand, such a thing is not at all surprising for one acquainted with the teachings of Islam and the details of Ali`s life, i.e. that Ali (A.S)  was brought up from childhood by the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  of Islam, that the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household) , having taken him from his father as a child, had reared him in his home under his own care, that the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  had trained Ali (A.S)  and instructed him in his own characteristic way, teaching him the secrets of Islam. Ali`s spirit had assimilated within itself the doctrines of Islam and the code of its laws. Therefore, it is not unusual that Ali (A.S)  should have been as such; rather, it would have been astonishing if he was not as such, as we find him to be. Does not the Holy Qur’an declare: AIndeed, We sent Our messengers with the clear signs, and We sent down with them the Book and the Balance so that men might uphold justice (57:25) ?

In this verse, the establishment of justice has been declared as the objective of the mission of all the prophets. The sanctity of justice is so stressed that it is considered the aim of all prophetic missions. Hence, how were it possible that someone like Ali (A.S) , whose duty was to expound the teachings of the Holy Qur’an and explain the doctrines and laws of Islam, might have ignored this issue or, at least, accorded it a secondary importance?

Those who neglect these issues in their teachings or imagine that these problems are only of marginal significance, and that the central issues are those of ritual purity and impurity (taharah andnajasah ), it is essential that they should re-examine their own beliefs and views.

The Importance of Politics

The first thing which must be examined is the significance and value attached to the issue of government and justice byNahjul-Balagha . Indeed, what is essentially the importance of these problems in Islam? A thorough discussion of this question is obviously outside the scope of this book, but by way of a casual reference, however, it seems inevitable to lightly touch upon. The Holy Qur’an, in the verse where it commands the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  to inform the people that Ali (A.S)  would succeed him as the leader of the Muslims and the Prophet’skhalifah , declares the following with extraordinary insistence: AO Messenger! Communicate that which has been sent down to you from your Lord, for if you do not do so, you will not have delivered His Message at all! (5:67).

Is there any other issue in Islam to which this much importance is attached? What other issue is of such a significance that, if not communicated to the people, it would amount to the failure of the prophetic mission itself?

During the battle of Uhud, when the Muslims were defeated and the rumor spread that the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  had been killed, a group of Muslims fled from the battlefield. Referring to this incident, the Holy Qur’an says the following: AMuhammed is naught but a Messenger; Messengers have passed away before him. Why, if he should die or is slain, will you turn about on your heels? (3:144)

`Allama Tabataba’i, in an article titledWilayat wa-hakumat , derives the following conclusion from the above verse: A If the Messenger (‰) is killed in battle, it should not in any way stall, even temporarily, your struggle. Immediately afterwards, you should place yourselves under the banner of the successor to the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  and continue your endeavor. In other words, if, supposedly, the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  is killed or if he dies, the social system and military organization of the Muslims should not disintegrate.

There is onehadith wherein the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  said, A If (as few as) three persons go on a journey, they must appoint one from among themselves as their leader. From this, one may infer to what extent the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  regarded as harmful the disorder and absence of authority that could resolve social conflicts and serve as a unifying bond among individuals.

Nahjul-Balagha deals with numerous problems concerning the State and social justice, a few of which, Allah willing, we shall discuss here.

The first problem to be discussed here is that of the necessity and value of a State. Ali (A.S)  has repeatedly stressed the need for a powerful government and, in his own time, battled against the views propagated by the Kharijites who, in the beginning, denied the need for a State, considering the Holy Qur’an as sufficient. The slogan of the Kharijites, as is known, was: A The right of judgment (or authority to rule) belongs exclusively to Allah (la hukm illa li-Allah ), a phrase adopted from the Holy Qur’an. Its Qur’anic meaning is that the prerogative of legislation belongs to Allah or those whom Allah has permitted to legislate. But the Kharijites interpreted it differently. According to Ali (A.S) , they had imparted a false sense to a true statement. The essence of their view was that no human being has any right to rule others; sovereignty belongs exclusively to Allah. Ali’s argument was:

Yes, I also sayla hukm illa li-Allah , in the sense that the right of legislation belongs solely to Allah. But their claim that the prerogative to govern and to lead also belongs to Allah is not reasonable. After all, the laws of Allah need to be implemented by human beings. Men cannot do without a ruler, good or evil.[1]

It is under the protection of a State that the believers strive for Allah’s sake, and the unbelievers derive material benefit from their worldly endeavors, and men attain the fruits of their labor. It is through the authority of the State that taxes are collected, aggressors are repelled, the security of highways is maintained, and the weak reclaim their rights (through the courts of law) from the strong. (This process continues) until the good citizens are happy and secure from the evils of miscreants. (Nahjul-Balagha, Khutab 40)

Ali (A.S) , like other godly men and spiritual leaders, despises temporal power and political office for being lowly and degrading when it serves as an instrument of gratification of lust for power and political ambition. He looks down upon it with extreme contempt when it is desired as an end-in-itself and aspired as an ideal of life. He considers such kind of power to be devoid of any value, considering it to be more detestable than A a pig’s bone in a leper’s hand. But the same power and leadership, if used as a means for the establishment and execution of social justice and service to society, is regarded by him as a thing of paramount sanctity, something for which he is willing to fight any opportunist and political adventurer seeking to grab power and illegitimate wealth. In its defense, he does not hesitate to draw his sword against plunderers and usurpers.

During the days of Ali’s caliphate, Abdullah ibn `Abbas once went to see him. He found Ali (A.S)  mending his old shoes with his own hand. Turning to Ibn `Abbas, Ali (A.S)  asked him, A How much do you think this shoe is worth? A Nothing, replied Ibn `Abbas. Ali (A.S)  said, A Yet the same shoe is of more value to me than authority over you [folks] if it were not to me a means for establishing justice, recovering the rights of the deprived and wiping out evil practices (Khutab 33).

In sermon 216, we come across a general discussion about human rights and duties. Here, Ali (A.S)  states that every right always involves two parties. Of the various Divine duties, the ones which Allah has ordained are duties of people towards people; they are framed in such a way that each right necessitates a duty towards others; each right which benefits an individual or a group holds the individual or group responsible to fulfill some duty towards others. Every duty becomes binding when the other party also fulfills his duty. He says the following further regarding this issue:

A But the most important of the reciprocal rights that Allah has made obligatory is the right of the ruler over the subjects and the rights of the subjects over the ruler. It is a mutual and reciprocal obligation decreed by Allah for them. He has made it the basis of the strength of their society and of their religion. Consequently, the subjects cannot prosper unless the rulers are righteous. The rulers cannot be righteous unless the subjects are firm and steadfast. If the subjects fulfill their duties toward the ruler and the ruler his duty to them, righteousness prevails among them. Only then are the objectives of the religion realized, the pillars of justice become stable and wholesome traditions become established. In this way, better conditions of life and social environment emerge. People become eager to safeguard the integrity of the State and thus frustrate the plots of its enemies (Khutab 126).

Justice: a Supreme Value

The first outcome of the sacred teachings of Islam was the influence exercised on the minds and ideologies of its adherents. Not only did Islam introduce new teachings regarding the world, man and his society, but also changed the ways of thinking. The importance of the latter achievement is not less than the former.

Every teacher imparts new knowledge to his pupils, and every school of thought provides new information to its adherents. But the teachers and schools of thought who furnish their followers with a new logic and revolutionize their ways of thinking altogether are few.

But how do the ways of thinking change and one logic replaces another? This requires some elucidation.

Man, by virtue of being a rational creature, thinks rationally about scientific and social issues. His arguments, intentionally or unintentionally, are based on certain principles and axioms. All his conclusions are drawn from and judgments are based on them. The difference in ways of thinking originates precisely in these first principles or axioms. This is used as the ground for inferences and conclusions. Here, it is crucial what premises and axioms form the foundation for inference, and here lies the cause of all disparity in inferences and conclusions. In every age, there is a close similarity between the ways of thinking of those familiar with the intellectual spirit of the age on scientific issues. However, the difference is conspicuous between the intellectual spirits of different ages. But with regard to social problems, such a similarity and consensus is not found even among persons who are contemporaries. There is a secret behind this. To elaborate on it would take us outside the scope of the present discussion.

Man, in his confrontation with social and moral problems, is inevitably led to adopt some sort of value-orientation. In his assessments, he arrives at a certain hierarchy of values in which he arranges all issues. This order or hierarchy of values plays a significant role in the adoption of the kind of basic premises and axioms which he utilizes. It makes him think differently from others who have differently evaluated the issues and have arrived at a different hierarchy of values. This is what leads to a disparity among the ways of thinking. Take, for example, the question of feminine chastity, which is a matter of social significance. Do all people prescribe a similar system of evaluation with regard to this issue? Certainly not. There is a great amount of disparity between views. For some, its significance is near zero and it plays no part in their thinking. For some, the matter is of utmost value. The latter regard life as worthless in an environment where feminine chastity is regarded as unimportant.

When we say that Islam has revolutionized the ways of thinking, what is meant is that it has drastically altered their system and hierarchy of values. It has elevated values liketaqwa (God-fearing), which had no value at all in the past, to a very high status and attached an unprecedented importance to it. On the other hand, it deflated the value of such factors as lineage, race and the like which in the pre-Islamic days were of predominant significance, bringing their worth to zero. Justice is one of the values revived by Islam and is given an extraordinary status. It is true that Islam has recommended justice and stressed its implementation, but what is very significant is that it elevates its value in the society. It is better to leave the elaboration of this point to Ali (A.S)  himself and see whatNahjul-Balagha says. A man of intelligence and understanding put the following question to Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (A.S)  : A Which is superior, justice or generosity? (Hikam 437)

Here, the question is about two human qualities. Man has always detested oppression and injustice and has also held in high regard acts of kindness and benevolence performed without the hope of reward or a return. Apparently, the answer to the above question seems both obvious and easy: generosity is superior to justice, for what is justice except observance of the rights of others and avoiding violating them? But a generous man willingly foregoes his own right in preference of another person over himself. The just man does not transgress the rights of others; he safeguards their rights from being violated. But the generous man sacrifices his own right for another’s sake. Therefore, generosity must be superior to justice.

In truth, the above reasoning appears to be quite valid when we estimate their worth from the viewpoint of individual morality and generosity, more so than that of justice. This seems to be a sign of human perfection and the nobleness of the human soul. But Ali’s reply is contrary to the above answer. Ali (A.S)  gives two reasons for the superiority of justice over generosity. Firstly, he says the following: A Justice puts things in their proper place and generosity diverts them from their (natural) direction.

The meaning of justice is that the natural deservedness of everybody must be taken into consideration; everyone should be given his due worth according to his work, ability and qualifications. Society is comparable to a machine whose every part has a proper place and function.

It is true that generosity is a quality of great worth from the point of view that a generous man donates to another what legitimately belongs to him, but we must note that it is an unnatural occurrence. It may be compared to a body one of whose organs is malfunctioning while its other healthy organs and parts temporarily redirect their activity to the recovery of the suffering organ. From the social point of view, it would be far more preferable if the society did not possess such sick members at all, so that the healthy organs and members may completely devote their activities and energies to the general growth and perfection of the society, instead of being absorbed with helping and assisting a particular member.

To return to Ali’s reply, the other reason he gives for preferring justice to generosity is this:

Justice is the general caretaker, whereas generosity is a particular reliever.

That is, justice is like a general law which is applicable to the management of all the affairs of the society. Its benefit is universal and all-embracing; it is the highway which serves all and everyone. But generosity is something exceptional and limited, which cannot be always relied upon. Basically, if generosity were to become a general rule, it would no longer be regarded as such. Deriving his conclusion, Ali (A.S)  says the following: A Consequently, justice is the nobler of the two and possesses the greater merit. This way of thinking about man and human problems is one based on a specific value system rooted in the idea of the fundamental importance of the society. In this system of values, social principles and criteria precede the norms of individual morality. The former is a principle, whereas the latter is only a ramification. The former is a trunk, while the latter is a branch of it. The former is the foundation of the structure, whereas the latter is an embellishment.

From Ali’s viewpoint, it is the principle of justice that is of crucial significance in preserving the balance of society, and winning the goodwill of the public. Its practice can ensure the health of the society and bring peace to its soul. Oppression, injustice and discrimination cannot bring peace and happinessCeven to the tyrant or to the one in whose interest the injustice is perpetrated. Justice is like a public highway which has room for all and through which everyone may pass without impediment. But injustice and oppression constitute a blind alley which does not lead even the oppressor to his desired destination.

As is known, during his caliphate, >Othman ibn >Affan put a portion of the public property of the Muslims at the disposal of his kinsmen and friends. After the death of >Othman, Ali (A.S)  assumed power. Ali (A.S)  was advised by some people to overlook whatever injustice had occurred in the past and to do nothing about it, to confine his efforts to what would befall from then on during his own caliphate. But to this his reply was: A A long standing right does not become invalid [because of the passage of time]!

Then he exclaimed: A By Allah! Even if I find that by such misappropriated money women have been married or bondmaids bought, I would reclaim it and have it returned to the public treasury. There is a wide scope and room in the dispensation of justice. [Justice is vast enough to include and envelop everyone;] he who [being of a diseased temperament] finds restriction and hardship in justice should know that the path of injustice and oppression is harder and even more restricted (Khutab 15).

Justice, according to this concept, is a barrier and a limit to be observed, respected and believed in by everyone. All should be content to remain within its limits. But if its limits are broken and violated, and if both belief in it and respect for it are lost while human greed and lust, being insatiable by nature, would not stop at any limit, the further man advances on this interminable journey of greed and lust, the greater becomes his dissatisfaction.

Indifference to Injustice

Ali (A.S)  regards justice to be a duty and a the Divine trust. To him, it is a the Divine sanctity. He does not expect a Muslim who is aware and informed about the teachings of Islam to be an idle spectator at the scenes of injustice and discrimination.

In his sermon called Aal-Shaqshaqiyya , after relating the pathetic political episodes of the past, Ali (A.S)  proceeds to advance his reasons for accepting the caliphate. He mentions how, after the assassination of >Othman, the people thronged around him urging him to accept the leadership of Muslims. But Ali (A.S) , after the unfortunate events of the past and being aware of the extent of deterioration in the then prevailing situation, was not disposed to accept that grave responsibility. Nevertheless, he saw that if he should reject the caliphate, the face of truth would become still more clouded, and it might be alleged that he was not interested in this matter from the very beginning, that he gave no importance to such affairs. Moreover, in view of the fact that Islam does not consider it permissible for anyone to remain an idle spectator in a society divided into two classes of oppressed and oppressors, one suffering the pangs of hunger and the other well-fed and uneasy with the discomforts of over-eating, there was no alternative for Ali (A.S)  but to shoulder this heavy responsibility. He himself explains this in the aforementioned sermon: A By Him Who split the grain and created living things [do I swear]! Had it not been for the presence of the pressing crowd, were it not for the establishment of (Allah’s) testimony upon me through the existence of supporters, and had it not been for the pledge of Allah with the learned, to the effect that they should not connive with the gluttony of the oppressor and the hunger of the oppressed, I would have cast the reins of the caliphate on its own shoulders and would have made the last one drink from the same cup that I made the first one to drink (i.e. I would have taken the same stance towards the caliphate as at the time of the first caliph). You would have seen then that in my view the world of yours is not worth more than a goat’s sneeze (Khutab 3).

Justice Should not be Compromised

Favoritism, nepotism, partiality and shutting up of mouths by big morsels, have always been the essential tools of politicians. Now a man had assumed power and captained the ship of the caliphate who profoundly detested these things. In fact, his main objective was to struggle and fight against this kind of politics. Naturally, with the very inception of Ali’s reign, the politicians with their hopes and expectations were disappointed. Their disappointment soon grew into subversive conspiracies against Ali’s government, creating for him many a headache. Well-meaning friends, with sincere goodwill, advised Ali (A.S)  to adopt a greater flexibility in his policies for the sake of higher interests. Their advice was: A Extricate yourself from the ruses of these demagogues, as is said, >sewing the dog’s mouth with a big morsel.’ These are influential persons. Some of them are from among the elitesahaba of the dawn of Islam. Presently, your real enemy is Mu`awiyah who is in control of a rich and fertile province, Syria. The wisdom lies in setting aside, for the time being, the matter of equality and justice. What harm is there in it?

Ali (A.S)  replied to them saying, A Do you really ask me to seek support through injustice [to my subjects and to sacrifice justice for the sake of political gain]?! By Allah! I will not do it as long as the world lasts and one star follows another in the sky [i.e. I will not do it as long as the order of the universe exists]. Even if it were my own property, I would distribute it with justice. And why not, since it is the property of Allah and I am His trustee? (Khutba 126).

This is an example of how highly Ali (A.S)  valued justice and what status it held in his opinion.

The Rights of the People

The needs of a human being are not confined to food, clothing and housing. It may be possible to keep an animal happy by satisfying all its physical needs. But in the case of man, spiritual and psychological factors are as important as physical ones. Different governments following a similar course in providing for the material welfare of the public might achieve differing results because one of them fulfills the psychological needs of the society while the other does not.

One of the pivotal factors which contribute to the securing of the goodwill of the masses is the way a government views them, if it regards them as its slaves, or as its masters and guardians, if it considers the people as possessing legitimate rights and itself only as their trustee, agent and representative. In the first case, whatever service a government may perform for the people is not more than a kind of the master’s care of his beast. In the second case, every service performed is equivalent to the discharging of duty by a right trustee. A State’s acknowledgment of the authentic rights of the people and avoidance of any kind of action that implies negation of their right of sovereignty, are the primary conditions for securing their trust and goodwill.

The Church and the Right of Sovereignty

At the dawn of the modern age, there was a movement against religion in Europe which also affected, more or less, other regions outside Christendom. This movement was inclined towards materialism. When we examine the causes and roots of this movement, we discover that one of them was the inadequacy of the teachings of the Church from the viewpoint of political rights. The Church authorities, in addition to some European philosophers, developed an artificial relationship with and an association between belief in Allah on the one hand and stripping the people of their political rights by despotic regimes on the other.

Naturally, this led to the assumption of some necessary relationship between democracy on the one hand and atheism on the other. It came to be believed that either we should choose the belief in Allah and accept the right of sovereignty bestowed by Him upon certain individuals, who have otherwise no superiority over others, or deny the existence of Allah so as to establish our right as masters of our own political destiny. From the point of view of religious psychology, one of the causes of the decline of the influence of religion was the contradiction between religion and a natural social need, contrived by religious authorities, especially at a time when that need expressed itself strongly at the level of public consciousness. Right at a time when despotism and repression had reached their peak in European political life and the people were thirstily cherishing the ideas of liberty and people’s sovereignty, the Church and its supporters made an assertion that the people had only duties and responsibilities towards the State and had no rights. This was sufficient to turn the lovers of liberty and democracy against religion, against God in general and the Church in particular.

This mode of thought, in the West as well as in the East, was deeply rooted from ancient times. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, inthe Social Contract , writes the following: A We are told by Philo, the Emperor Caligula argued, concluding, reasonably enough on this same analogy, that kings were gods or alternately that the people were animals.

During the Middle Ages, this outlook was revived again. Since it assumed the status of religious faith, it induced a revolt against religion itself. Rousseau, in the same book, writes: A Grotius denies that all human government is established for is the benefit of the governed, and he cites the example of slavery. His characteristic method of reasoning is always to offer fact as a proof of right. It is possible to imagine a more logical method, but not one more favorable to tyrants. According to Grotius, therefore, it is doubtful whether humanity belongs to a hundred men, or whether these hundred men belong to humanity, though he seems throughout his book to lean to the first of these views, which is also that of Hobbes. These authors show us the human race as divided into herds of cattle, each with a master who presents it only in order to devour its members.[2]

Rousseau, who calls such a right A the right of might (right equals force), replies to this logic in this fashion: A Obey those in power. If this means A yield to force, the precept is sound but superfluous; it has never, I suggest, been violated. All power comes from Allah, I agree; but so does every disease, and no one forbids us from summoning a physician. If I am held up by a robber at the edge of a forest, force compels me to hand over my purse. But if I could somehow contrive to keep the purse from him, would I still be obliged in conscience to surrender it? After all, the pistol in the robber’s hand is undoubtedly a power.[3]

Although he does not incline to Allah in his totalitarian logic, the basis of the philosophic position of Hobbes, whose views have been referred to above, regarding political rights is that the sovereign represents and personifies the will of the people, and he actually translates the will of the people itself into his actions. However, when we closely examine his reasoning, we find that he has been influenced by the ideas of the Church. Hobbes claims that the individual liberty does not clash with the unlimited power of the sovereign. He writes: A Nevertheless, we are not to understand that by such liberty, the sovereign power of life and death is either abolished or limited. For it has been already shown that nothing the sovereign representative can do to a subject, on whatever pretense, can properly be called injustice or injury because every subject is the author of every act the sovereign does, so that he never wants right to anything otherwise than as he himself is the subject of Allah and is bound thereby to obscene the laws of nature. And, therefore, it may and does often happen in commonwealths that a subject may be put to death by the command of the sovereign power and yet neither do the other wrong__ as when Jephtha caused his daughter to be sacrificed; in which, and the like cases, he that so dies, had the liberty to do the action for which he is nevertheless without injury put to death. And the same hold also in a sovereign prince that puts to death an innocent subject. For though the action be against the law of nature as being contrary to equity, as was the killing of Uriah by David, yet it was not an injury to Uriah but to God.[4]

As can be noticed, in this philosophy, the responsibility to Allah is assumed to negate the responsibility towards the people. Acknowledgment of duty to Allah is considered sufficient in order that the people may have no rights. Justice, here, is what the sovereign does and oppression and injustice have no meaning. In other words, duty to Allah is assumed to annul the duty to man, and the right of Allah overrides the rights of men. Indubitably, Hobbes, though apparently a free thinker independent of the ideology of the Church, had ecclesiastical ideas not penetrated into his mind, would not have developed such a theory. Precisely that which is totally absent from such philosophies is the idea that faith and belief in Allah should be considered conducive to the establishment of justice and the realization of human rights. The truth is that, firstly, the belief in Allah is the foundation of the idea of justice and inalienable human rights; it is only through the acceptance of the existence of Allah that it is possible to affirm innate human rights and uphold true justice as two realities independent of any premise and convention; secondly, it is the best guarantee for their execution in practice.

The approach ofNahjul-Balagha

The approach ofNahjul-Balagha to justice and human rights rests on the above-mentioned foundations. In sermon 216, from which we have quoted before, Ali (A.S)  says the following: A Allah has, by entrusting me with your affairs, given me a right over you and awarded you a similar right over me. The issue of rights, as a subject of discourse, is inexhaustible but is the most restricted of things when it comes to practice. A right does not accrue in favor of any person unless it accrues against him also, and it does not accrue against him unless that it also accrues in his favor.

As can be noticed from the above passage, Allah is central to Ali’s statement about justice, rights, and duties. But Ali’s stand is opposed to the aforementioned view according to which Allah has bestowed rights on only a handful of individuals solely responsible to Him, and has deprived the rest of people of these rights, making them responsible not only to Him but also to those who have been granted by Him the unlimited privilege to rule others. As a result, the ideas of justice and injustice with regard to the relationship between the ruler and the ruled become meaningless.

In the same sermon, Ali (A.S)  says the following: A No individual, no matter how eminent and high his station in religion maybe, is not above needing cooperation of the people in discharging his obligations and the responsibilities placed upon him by Allah. Again, no man, however humble and insignificant in the eyes of others, is too low to be ignored for the purpose of his cooperation and his providing assistance.

In the same sermon, Ali (A.S)  asks the people not to address him in the way despots are addressed: A Do not address me in the manner despots are addressed [i.e. Do not address me by the titles used to flatter despots and tyrants]. In your attitude towards me, do not entertain the kind of considerations that are adopted in the presence of unpredictable tyrants. Do not treat me with affected and obsequious manners. Do not imagine that your candor would displease me or that I expect you to treat me with veneration. One who finds it disagreeable to face true and just criticism would find it more detestable to act upon it. Therefore, do not deny me a word of truth or a just advice.

The Rulers are the People’s Trustees, Not Their Masters

In the last chapter, we said that a dangerous and misleading view became current in the thought of some modern European thinkers interlinking in an unnatural fashion the belief in Allah on the one hand and the negation of peoples’ rights on the other. This correlation played a significant role in inducing a group to incline towards materialism. Duty and responsibility to Allah was assumed to necessarily negate the duty and responsibility to the people. The Divine obligations completely displaced human obligations. The belief and faith in Allah (Who, according to the Islamic teachings, created the universe on the principles of truth and justice) was considered to be in conflict with and contradict the belief in innate and natural human rights, instead of being regarded as their basis. Naturally, belief in the right of people’s sovereignty was equated with atheism.

From the Islamic point of view, the case is actually the reverse. InNahjul-Balagha , which is the subject of our discussion, the main topics are:tawhid and >irfan ; throughout, the talk is about Allah whose Name occurs repeatedly everywhere in its pages. Nevertheless, it not only does not neglect to discuss the rights of the people and their privilegesvis-a-vis the ruler, in fact regarding the ruler as the trustee and protector of their rights, but also lays great emphasis on this point. According to the logic of this noble book, the imam/ruler is the protector and trustee of the rights of the people and is held accountable by them. If one is asked as to which of them exists for the other, it is the ruler who exists for the people, notvice versa . Sa`di has a similar idea on his mind when he says the following: A It is not the sheep who are to serve the shepherd; it is the shepherd who is there for their service.

The wordra`iyyah (lit. herd), despite the fact that it gradually acquired an abominable meaning in the Persian language, has an original meaning which is essentially good and humanitarian. The wordra`i for the ruler andra`iyyah for the masses first appears in the speech of the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  and is literally used thereafter by Ali (A.S) .

This word is derived from the rootra`a , which carries the sense of A protection and A safeguarding. The wordra`iyyah is applied to the people for the reason that the ruler is responsible for protecting their lives, property, rights, and liberties.

A tradition related from the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  throws full light on the meaning of this statement: A Truly, everyone of you is ara`i responsible for hisrai`yyah . The ruler is thera`i of his people and is responsible for them; the woman is thera`i of her husband’s house and is responsible for it; the slave is thera`i of his master’s property and is responsible for it; indeed, each of you is ara`i and is responsible [for those under his charge/care]. [5]

In the preceding pages, we cited some examples fromNahjul-Balagha which illustrate Ali’s outlook regarding the rights of the people. Here we shall give sample quotes from other sources, beginning with the following verse of the Holy Qur’an:

Allah commands you to deliver trusts back to their owners, and that when you judge between the people, judge with justice. (4:58)

Commenting on this verse, al-Tibrisi, in his exegesisMajma` al-Bayan , remarks thus: A There are several opinions regarding the meaning of this verse. Frstly, that it is about trusts in general, including the Divine and the non-Divine, the material and the non-material trusts; secondly, that it is addressed to the rulers, and that Allah, by making the returning of the trusts [to their rightful owners] an obligation, is commanding such rulers to observe the rights of the people.

Then he further adds:

This is corroborated by the verse immediately following it: O believers, obey Allah, and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. (4:59)

According to this verse, people are bound to obey the commands of Allah, His Messenger and those in authority (wulat al- > amr ). While the preceding verse mentions the rights of the people, this one reiterates the complementary rights of those in authority. It has been related from the Imams that A One of these two verses is ours (i.e. it establishes our rights in relation to you), and the other is yours (i.e. it outlines your rights in relation to us). Imam al-Baqir (–) said that thesalat, zakat, sawm , andhajj are some of the trusts (mentioned in 4:58). One of the trusts (amanat ) is that thewulat al- > amr have been commanded to justly distribute theghana’im ,sadaqat and whatever belongs to the people.

In the exegesisAl-Mizan , in the part of the commentary upon this verse which deals with tradition, the author relates a tradition fromAl-Durr al-Manthur from Ali (A.S)  that he said, A It is incumbent on the imam to rule according to the decrees revealed by Allah and to carry out the responsibilities with which he has been entrusted. When he does that, it is incumbent upon the people to pay attention to the Divine command (about obeying thewali al- > amr ), to obey him and to respond to his call.

As noted earlier, the Holy Qur’an considers the ruler, the head of the State, as a trustee and a guardian; it regards just government as a fulfilllment of a trust entrusted to the ruler. The approach of the Imams (A.S), in particular that of Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (A.S) , corresponds with the view which can be inferred from the Holy Qur’an.

Now that we know the Holy Qur’an’s view of this matter, we may go on to examine the statements ofNahjul-Balagha dealing with this issue. More than anything else, we must study Ali’s letters (epistles) to his governors, especially those which were meant to be official circulars. It is in these letters that we would find glimpses of the teachings of Islam regarding the functions of the ruler and his duties towards the people as well as their rights. Ali (A.S) , in his letter to the governor of Azerbaijan, reminds him of his duties towards the people in these words: A Beware lest you should consider this assignment as a bait [for acquiring personal gain]; rather, it is a trust lying on your neck. You have been charged with care-taking [of the people] by your superior [obligation towards them]. It is not for you to betray your duties with respect to the people (ra’iyyah ). (Epistle 5)

In another letter written as a circular to tax collectors, after a few words of advice and admonition, Ali (A.S)  says the following: A Fulfill the demands of justice in your relationship with the people and be patient in matters regarding their needs because you are treasurers of the people (ra’iyyah ), representatives of the community (umma ), and envoys of your imams.(Epistle 51)

In the famous epistle to Malik al-Ashtar, which contains elaborate instructions about various aspects of government, he writes: A Awaken your heart to kindness and mercy for the people (ra’iyyah ) and love and tenderness for them. Never, never should you ever act with them like a predatory beast which seeks to be satiated by devouring them, for the people fall into two categories: they are either your brethren in faith or your kindred in creation. Do not ever say, >I have been given authority’ or >My command should be obeyed’ because it corrupts the heart, consumes one’s faith, and invites calamities.

In another letter sent as a circular to his army commanders, he says the following: A It is an obligation that an official should not behave differently with the people (ra’iyyah ) on account of distinction which he receives or material advantage that he may achieve. Instead, these favors from Allah should bring him nearer to Allah’s creatures and increase his compassion towards his brethren.(Epistle 50)

Ali (A.S)  shows an amazing sensitivity to justice, compassion towards the people and a great respect for them and their rights which, as reflected in his letters, is an exemplary and unique attitude towards this issue.

There is another epistle inNahjul-Balagha which consists of instructions to the collectors ofzakat , and is entitled: A To the officials assigned to the job of collectingzakat . The title indicates that it was not addressed to any particular official but sent either as a general instruction in writing or delivered as a routine oral instruction. Sayyid al-Radhi has included it in the section of Epistles, or letters, with the clarification that he is placing this letter here to show to what extent Ali (A.S)  was meticulous in matters pertaining to justice and the rights of the people, being attentive not only to main points but also to minute details. Here are Ali’s instructions: A Set out with the fear of Allah, Who is One and has no partner. Do not intimidate any Muslim. Do not trespass upon his land so as to displease him. Do not take from him more than Allah’s share in his property. When you approach a tribe, at first come down at their watering place, stay there instead of entering their houses. Approach them with calm dignity and salute them when you stand among them, grudge not a proper greeting to them. Then say to them, A O servants of Allah! TheWali andKhalifah of Allah has sent me to you to collect from you Allah’s share in your property. Is there anything of His share in your property? If there is, return it to HisWali . A If someone says >NO,’ then do not repeat the demand. If someone answers in the affirmative, go with him without frightening, threatening, or compelling him. Take whatever gold and silver he gives you. If he has cattle or camels, do not approach them save with his permission, because the major part belongs to him. When you arrive (into the cattle enclosure), do not enter upon them in a bossy and rude manner.Epistle 25, also see 26, 27 and 46)

The passages quoted above are sufficient to throw light on Ali’s attitude as a ruler toward the people under his rule.

SECTION FIVE

MORAL LECTURES AND APHORISMS

Inimitable Moral Teaching

Moral and spiritual teachings constitute the greater part ofNahjul-Balagha, making up almost half of the book. More than anything else, the fame ofNahjul-Balagha is due to the sermons, exhortations and aphorisms on ethical and moral subjects.

Aside from the moral teachings of the Holy Qur’an and a number of the sermons and sayings of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household) , which are to be considered the source and antecedent ofNahjul-Balagha , the teachings ofNahjul-Balagha are without a match in the Arabic and Persian languages. For more than a thousand years, these sermons have played an influential role serving as a matchless source of inspiration, yet retaining their original power to quicken the heartbeat, to sublimate emotions, and to bring tears to the eyes. It seems that as long as there remains any trace of humanity in the world, these sermons shall continue to exercise their original power and influence.

A Comparison

The literature of Arabic and Persian is replete with works containing spiritual and moral teachings of the highest sublimity and elegance, though mainly in the form of poetry. There is, for example, the famousqasida by Abul-Fath al-Busti (360-400/971-1010) which begins with the verse saying:

Worldly profit and achievement is loss,

And the gain unmarked by the seal of pure goodness...

There is also the eulogizingqasida by Abul-Hasan al-Tihami, which he wrote on the early death of his youthful son; it begins with these lines:

The law of fate governs the destiny of creation,

And this world is not a place to settle in.

Every one of these works is an everlasting masterpiece of its kind and shines like a star on the horizons of the Arabic literature of the Islamic era, never to lose its freshness and charm. In Persian, the Gulistan and the Bustan of Sa`di and hisqasa’id serve as unusually attractive and effective means of moral advice and are masterpieces of their own kind. To give some examples, here are some famous verses of the Gulistan which start with:

Every breath is a fraction of life gone,

And when I see, not much of it does remain.

Or in anotherqasida where he says the following:

O people! The world is not a place for leisure and repose;

To a wise man, it is not worth the effort to possess.

Or at another place where he says the following:

The world on water and life on wind do rest;

Salute the brave ones who to them do not tie their hearts.

... and where he says the following:

Time and fortune are subject to endless change;

The wise man doesn’t attach his heart to the world.

Sa`di’sBustan is full of profound and glowing spiritual pieces of advice and, perhaps, it is at its best in the ninth chapter on APenitence and the Right Way . The same is true of some portions of the Mathnawi of Rumi and works of all other Persian poets from whom we shall not further quote any examples.

In Islamic literature, including the Arabic and the Persian, there exist excellent examples of spiritual counsels and aphorisms. This Islamic literary genre is not confined to these two languages but is also found in Turkish, Urdu and other languages. A characteristic spirit pervades all of them. Anyone familiar with the Holy Qur’an, the sayings of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household) , of Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (A.S) , of the other Imams, and of Muslim saints of the first rank can observe a characteristic spirit pervading all Persian literature containing spiritual counsel which represents the spirit of Islam embodied in the Persian language and embellished with its charm and sweetness.

If an expert, or a group of experts, in Arabic and Persian literature acquainted with the works in all other languages that reflect the spirit of Islam were to collect the masterpieces in the field of spiritual counsel, the extraordinary richness and maturity of the Islamic culture in this field will be revealed.

It is strange that as far as the works on spiritual counsel are concerned, the Persian genius has mostly expressed itself in poetry; there is no such work of eminence in prose. All that exists of it in prose is in the form of short sayings, like the prose writings of the Gulistan, a part of which consists of spiritual counsels and is in itself a masterpiece, or the sayings ascribed to Khawajah Abdullah al-Ansari.

Of course, my own knowledge is inadequate, but as far as I know, there does not exist in Persian prose any remarkable work, except for short sayings, not even a passage, which is long enough to be counted as a short discourse, especially a discourse which was originally delivered extempore and later collected and recorded in writing.

There are discourses which have been related from Rumi or Sa`di meant as oral moral advice to their followers; they also by no means possess the brilliance and charm of the poetic works of those masters and definitely are not worth being compared with the discourses ofNahjul-Balagha .

The same can be said about the writings which have reached us in the form of a treatise or letter, such as theNasihat al-Muluk by Abu Hamid Muhammed al-Ghazali, theTaziyaneh-ye suluk by Ahmed al-Ghazali, the latter being an elaborate epistle addressed to his follower and pupil A `Ayn al-Qudat al-Hamadani.

Spiritual Counsel and Wisdom

Moral counsel, according to the Holy Qur’an, is one of the three ways of invitation towards Allah (hikma ,maw`iza, al-jidal al-hasan , i.e. wisdom, good admonition, and honorable debate, as mentioned in 16: 125).

The difference betweenhikma (wisdom, philosophy) andmaw`iza (spiritual and moral advice and admonition) lies in the fact thathikma is for instruction and imparting knowledge, whilemaw`iza is meant for reminding.Hikma is struggle against ignorance andmaw`iza is struggle against negligence and indifference.Hikma deals with the intellect andmaw`iza appeals to the heart.Hikma educates, whilemaw`iza prepares the intellect for the employment of its reserves.Hikma is a lamp andmaw`iza is an eye-opener.Hikma is for ratiocination, whilemaw`iza is for self-awakening.Hikma is the language of the intellect, whilemaw`iza is the message for the spirit. Accordingly, the personality of the speaker plays an essential role inmaw`iza , which is not the case withhikma . Inhikma , two minds communicate in an impersonal manner. But inmaw`iza, the situation is like the passage of an electric charge that flows from the speaker, who is at a higher potential, to the listener.

For this reason, it has been said ofmaw`iza that: A If it comes forth from the soul, then it necessarily alights upon the heart. Otherwise, it does not go beyond the listener’s ears. It is about the quality ofmaw`iza that it is said: A The speech which originates from the heart enters another heart, and the words which originate from the tongue do not go beyond the ears.

It is true that the words that come from the heart, being the message of the soul, invade other hearts; but if they do not convey the message of the soul, they are no more than empty literary devices which do not go beyond the listener’s ear-drum.

Maw`iza and Khitaba (Exhortation and Oratory)

Maw`iza also differs fromkhitaba (oratory, rhetoric). Although oratory also deals with emotions, it seeks to stir and agitate them.Maw`iza, on the other hand, is intended to pacify emotions, and it seeks to bring them under control. Oratory is effective when emotions are inert and stagnant;maw`iza is required when lusts and passions become unmanageable. Oratory stirs the passion for power and glory, the feelings of honor, heroism, chivalry, manliness, patriotism, nobility, righteousness, virtue and service; it is followed by movement and excitement. Butmaw`iza checks inappropriate passion and excitement. Rhetoric and oratory snatch control from the hands of calculating reason, handing it over to tempestuous passions. Butmaw`iza appeases the tempests of passions and prepares the ground for calculation and foresight. Oratory draws one to the outside whilemaw`iza makes him turn to his inner self.

Rhetoric and counsel are both necessary and essential, andNahjul-Balagha makes use of both of them. The main thing is to judge the right time for the use of each of them. The impassioned speeches of Amir al-Mu’minin (A.S) were delivered at a time when it was necessary to stir up passions and to build up a tempest to destroy an unjust and oppressive structure, such as at the time of the Battle of Siffin when Ali (A.S)  delivered a fiery speech before the engagement with Mu’awiyah’s forces. Mu’awiyah’s forces, arriving ahead of Ali’s army, had taken control of the river bank and stopped the supply of water to Ali’s camp. At first, Ali (A.S)  strived to abstain from resorting to force, desiring the problem to be solved through negotiation. But Mu’awiyah, who had some other designs, considering occupation of the river bank a victory for himself, refused every offer of negotiation. When things became difficult for Ali’s men, it was time when he should stir the emotions of his soldiers through a fiery speech, creating a tempest that would rout the enemy. This is how Ali (A.S)  addressed his companions:

They are eager that you should make them taste the flavor of battle. So you have two alternatives before you: either submit to disgrace and ignominy, or quench your swords’ thirst with their blood and quench your own thirst with water. It is death to survive through defeat, while true life is to die for the sake of victory. Mu’awiyah is leading a handful of deluded insurgents and has deceived them by keeping them in the dark about the truth, with the result that their throats are the targets of your deadly arrows. [1]

These words flared their emotions, provoked their sense of honor and made the blood surge in their veins. It was not yet sunset before Ali’s companions had seized the river bank, throwing back Mu’awiyah’s forces.

However, Ali’smawa’iz were delivered in different circumstances. During the days of the first three caliphs, particularly during >Othman’s rule, immeasurable amounts of wealth and booty, won through consecutive A victories, flowed into Muslim hands. Due to the absence of any careful programs for correct utilization of that wealth, particularly due to the aristocratic, or rather tribal, rule during the reign of >Othman, moral corruption, worldliness, and love of comfort and luxury found their ways into the Muslim society. Tribal rivalries were revived, and racial prejudice between Arabs and non-Arabs was added to it. In that clamor for worldliness and mounting prejudices, rivalries, and greed for greater share of the war booty, the only cry of protest charged with spiritual exhortation was that of Ali (A.S) .

God willing, we shall discuss in the coming chapters the various themes dealt with in Ali’smawa`iz , such astaqwa (piety), worldliness,zuhd (asceticism), desires, the dread of death, the dreads of the Day of Judgment, the need to take lesson from the history of past nations and peoples..., etc.

Nahjul-Balagha ’s Recurring Themes

Out of the 241 fragments collected under the title AKhutab by Sayyid al-Radhi (though not all of them areKhutab or sermons), about 86 can be classified asmawa`iz or at least contain a series of spiritual pieces of advice. Some of them, however, are elaborate and lengthy, likekhutba 176 which opens with the sentence AAvail yourselves of the Divine expositions , thekhutba named Aal-Qasi`a (which is the longest sermon inNahjul-Balagha ), and thekhutba 93 (calledA khutbat al-muttaqin , the A sermon of the pious).

Out of some seventy-nine passages that are classified as Aepistles , letters (which not all of them are), about twenty-five, either completely or partially, consist of spiritual and moral teachings. Some of them are quite lengthy and elaborate, such as letter 31, which constitutes of Ali’s advice to his son Imam al-Hasan al-Mujtaba (–), and the lengthiest of all, except the famous directive sent to Malik al-Ashtar. Another is letter 45, the well-known epistle of Ali (A.S)  to Othman ibn Hunayf, his governor over Basra.

The Themes in Spiritual Pieces of Advice

Various themes are found in the spiritual pieces of advice ofNahjul-Balagha :taqwa (piety) ;tawakkul (trust in Allah) ;sabr (patience, ortitude) ;zuhd (asceticism) ; therenunciation of worldly pleasures and luxuries, the renunciation of inordinate desires and far-fetched hopes; the condemnation of injustice and prejudice, emphasis on mercy, love, helping of the oppressed and sympathy toward the weak; emphasis on the qualities of fortitude, courage, and strength; emphasis on unity and solidarity and condemnation of disunity; the invitation to take lesson from history; the invitation to thought, meditation, remembrance, and self-criticism; the reminders about the brevity of life and the swiftness of its pace; the remembrance of death; the hardships of death-throes; experiences of the life after death; the reminders of the dreadful events of the Day of Judgment, and so on. These are some of the frequent themes of the spiritual pieces of advice ofNahjul-Balagha .

Ali’s Logic

In order to understand this aspect ofNahjul-Balagha , or, in other words, to understand Ali (A.S)  when he speaks as a moral and spiritual counsellor and to understand his didactic outlook, so as to draw benefit from that everflowing source, it is not enough to enumerate the various themes and topics dealt with by Ali (A.S)  in his discourses. It is not sufficient merely to remark that Ali (A.S)  has spoken abouttaqwa ,tawakkul orzuhd ; rather, we must see what significance did he attribute to these words. We must uncover his didactic philosophy regarding the development of the human character and his perception of the human aspiration for piety, purity, freedom, and deliverance from spiritual servitude and thraldom. As we know, these are words employed by all-in particular those who are wont to play the role of a moralist; but all individuals do not mean the same kind of things by these terms. Sometimes, the meanings one person attributes to these words are quite contrary to those meant by another, and naturally lead to conclusions which are quite opposite.

Consequently, it is essential to elaborate somewhat the specific meanings of these terms in Ali’s vocabulary, starting withtaqwa .

Taqwa

Taqwa is one of the most frequent motifs ofNahjul-Balagha . In fact it would be hard to find another book which emphasizes this spiritual term to the extent of this book. Even inNahjul-Balagha , no other term or concept receives so much attention and stress astaqwa . What istaqwa ?

Often it is thought thattaqwa means piety and abstinence and so implies a negative attitude. In other words, it is maintained that the greater the amount of abstinence, withdrawal, and self-denial, the more perfect is one’staqwa . According to this interpretation,taqwa is a concept divorced from active life; secondly it is a negative attitude; thirdly, it means that the more severely this negative attitude is exercised, the greater one’staqwa would be. Accordingly, the sanctimonious professors oftaqwa , in order to avoid its being tainted and to protect it from any blemish, withdraw from the bustle of life, keeping themselves away from involvement in any matter or affair of the world.

Undeniably, abstinence and caution exercised with discretion is an essential principle of wholesome living. For, in order to lead a healthy life, man is forced to negate and affirm, deny and posit, renounce and accept, avoid and welcome different things. It is through denial and negation that the positive in life can be realized. It is through renunciation and avoidance that concentration is given to action.

The principle oftawhid contained in the dictumla ilaha illa Allah is at the same time a negation as well as an affirmation. Without negation of everything other than Allah it is not possible to arrive attawhid . That is why rebellion and surrender, kufr (unbelief) and iman (belief), go together; that is, every surrender requires a rebellion and every faith (iman) calls for a denial and rejection (kufr), and every affirmation implies a negation. The Holy Qur’an says the following:

So whoever disbelieves in taghut and believes in Allah, has laid hold of the most firm bond. (2:256)

However, firstly, every denial, negation, rejection, and rebellion operates between the limits of two opposites; the negation of one thing implies movement towards its opposite; therejection of the one marks the beginning of the acceptance of the other. Accordingly, every healthy denial and rejection has both a direction and a goal, and is confined within certain definite limits. Therefore, a blind practice and purposeless attitude, which has neither direction nor a goal, nor is confined within any limits, is neither defensible nor of any spiritual worth.

Secondly, the meaning oftaqwa inNahjul-Balagha is not synonymous with that of >abstinence’, even in its logically accepted sense discussed above.Taqwa , on the other hand, according toNahjul-Balagha , is a spiritual faculty which appears as a result of continued exercise and practice. The healthy and rational forms of abstinence are, firstly, the preparatory causes for the emergence of that spiritual faculty; secondly, they are also its effects and outcome.

This faculty strengthens and vitalizes the soul, giving it a kind of immunity. A person who is devoid of this faculty, if he wants to keep himself free from sins, it is unavoidable for him to keep away from the causes of sin. Since society is never without these causes, inevitably he has to go into seclusion and isolate himself. It follows from this argument that one should either remain pious by isolating himself from one’s environment, or he should enter society and bid farewell totaqwa . Moreover, according to this logic, the more isolated and secluded a person’s life is and the more he abstains from mixing with other people, the greater is his piety andtaqwa in the eyes of the common people.

However, if the faculty oftaqwa is cultivated inside a person’s soul, it is no longer necessary for him to seclude himself from his environment. He can keep himself clean and uncorrupted without severing his relations with society.

The former kind of persons are like those who take refuge in mountains for fear of some plague or epidemic. The second kind resemble those who acquire immunity and resistance through vaccination and so do not deem it necessary to leave the city and avoid contact with their townsfolk. On the other hand, they hasten to the aid of the suffering sick in order to save them. Sa`di is alluding to the first kind of pious in his Gulistan, when he says the following:

Saw I a sage in the mountains,

Happy in a cave, far from the world’s tide.

Said I, A Why not to the city return,

And lighten your heart of this burden?

He said, A The city abounds in tempting beauties,

And even elephants slip where mud is thick.

Nahjul-Balagha speaks oftaqwa as a spiritual faculty acquired through exercise and assiduity, which on its emergence produces certain characteristic effects, one of which is the ability to abstain from sins with ease.

I guarantee the truth of my words and I am responsible for what I say. If similar events and experiences of the past serve as a lesson for a person, thentaqwa prevents him from plunging recklessly into doubts. [2]

Beware that sins are like unruly horses whose reins have been taken way and which plunge with their riders into hell-fire. Buttaqwa is like a trained steed whose reins are in the hands of its rider and enters with its rider into Paradise. [3]

In this sermontaqwa is described as a spiritual condition which results in control and command over one’s self. It explains that theresult of subjugation to desires and lusts and being devoid oftaqwa degrades one’s personality making it vulnerable to the cravings of the carnal self. In such a state, man is like a helpless rider without any power and control, whom his mount takes wherever it desires. The essence oftaqwa lies in possessing a spiritual personality endowed with will-power, and possessing mastery over the domain of one’s self. A man withtaqwa is like an expert horseman riding a well-trained horse and who with complete mastery and control drives his tractable steed in the direction of his choice.

Certainly thetaqwa of Allah assists His awliya (friends) in abstaining from unlawful deeds and instils His fear into their hearts. As a result, their nights are passed in wakefulness and their days in thirst [on account of fasting].[4]

Here Ali (A.S)  makes it clear thattaqwa is something which automatically leads to abstention from unlawful actions and to the fear of Allah, which are its necessary effects. Therefore, according to this view,taqwa is neither itself abstinence nor fear of Allah; rather, it is a sacred spiritual faculty of which these two are only consequences:

For indeed, todaytaqwa is a shield and a safeguard, and tomorrow (i.e. in the Hereafter) it shall be the path to Paradise. [5]

Inkhutba 157,taqwa is compared to an invincible fortress built on heights which the enemy has no power to infiltrate. Throughout, the emphasis of the Imam (–) lies on the spiritual and psychological aspect oftaqwa and its effects upon human spirit involving the emergence of a dislike for sin and corruption and an inclination towards piety, purity, and virtue.

Further illustrations of this view can be cited fromNahjul-Balagha , but it seems that the above quotations are sufficient.

Taqwa is Immunity not Restraint

We have already mentioned some of the various elements found in the spiritual pieces of advice (mawa`iz ) ofNahjul-Balagha . We began withtaqwa and saw thattaqwa , from the viewpoint ofNahjul-Balagha , is a sublime spiritual faculty which is the cause of certain attractions and repulsions; i.e. attraction towards edifying spiritual values and repulsion towards degrading materialistic vices.Nahjul-Balagha considerstaqwa as a spiritual state that gives strength to human personality and makes man the master of his own self.

Taqwa as Immunity

Nahjul-Balagha stresses thattaqwa is for man a shield and a shelter, not a chain or a prison. There are many who do not distinguish between immunity and restraint, between security and confinement, and promptly advocate the destruction of the sanctuary oftaqwa in the name of freedom and liberation from bonds and restraint.

That which is common between a sanctuary and a prison is the existence of a barrier. Whereas the walls of a sanctuary avert dangers, the walls of a prison hinder the inmates from realizing their inner capacities and from benefiting from the bounties of life. Ali (A.S)  clarifies the difference between the two, where he says the following:

Let it be known to you, O servants of Allah, thattaqwa is a formidable fortress, whereas impiety and corruption is a weak and indefensible enclosure that does not safeguard its people, and does not offer any protection to those who take refuge in it. Indeed, it is only withtaqwa that the tentacles of sins and misdeeds can be severed. [6]

Ali (A.S) , in this sublime advice, compares sins and evil deeds which are afflictions of the human soul to poisonous insects and reptiles, and suggests that the faculty oftaqwa is an effective defence against them. In some of his discourses, he makes it clear thattaqwa not only does not entail restraint and restriction or is an impediment to freedom, but on the other hand it is the source and fountainhead of all true freedoms. Inkhutba 230, he says the following:

Taqwa is the key to guidance, the provision for the next world, the freedom from every kind of slavery, and the deliverance from every form of destruction.

The message is clear.Taqwa gives man spiritual freedom and liberates him from the chains of slavery and servitude to lusts and passions. It releases him from the bonds of envy, lust, and anger, and this expurgates society from all kinds of social bondages and servitudes. Men who are not slaves of comfort, money, power, and glory, never surrender to the various forms of bondage which plague the human society.

Nahjul-Balagha deals with the theme oftaqwa and its various effects in many of its passages; but we don’t consider it necessary to discuss all of them here. Our main objective here is to discover the meaning oftaqwa from the point of view ofNahjul-Balagha , so as to unearth thereason for so much emphasis that this book places on this concept.

Of the many effects oftaqwa that have been pointed out, two are more important than therest: firstly, the development of insight and clarity of vision; secondly, the capacity to solve problems and to weather difficulties and crises. We have discussed this in detail elsewhere.[7] Moreover, a discussion of these effects oftaqwa here will take us beyond our present aim which is to clarify the true meaning oftaqwa . It will not be out of place to call attention to certain profound remarks ofNahjul-Balagha about thereciprocal relationship between the human being andtaqwa .

A Reciprocal Commitment

In spite of the great emphasis laid byNahjul-Balagha ontaqwa as a kind of guarantee and immunity against sin and temptation, it should be noticed that one must never neglect to safeguard and protecttaqwa itself.Taqwa guards man, and man must safeguard histaqwa . This, as we shall presently explain, is not a vicious circle.

This reciprocal guarding of the one by the other is comparable to the one between a person and his clothes. A man takes care of his clothes and protects them from being spoiled or stolen, while the clothes in turn guard him against heat or cold. In fact the Holy Qur’an speaks oftaqwa as a garment:

And the garment of taqwa -that is better . (7:26)

Ali (A.S) , speaking about this relationship of mutual protection between a person and his tawqa’, says the following:

Turn your sleep into wakefulness by the means oftaqwa and spend your days in its company. Keep its consciousness alive in your hearts. With it wash away your sins and cure your ailments. Beware, guard yourtaqwa and place your self under its guard. [8]

At another place in the same sermon, Ali (A.S)  says the following:

O Allah’s servants, I advise you to cultivate thetaqwa of Allah. Indeed it is a right that Allah has over you and it is through it that you can have any right over Allah. You should beseech Allah’s help for guarding it and seek its aid for [fulfillling your duty to] Allah. [9]

Zuhd and Piety

Another spiritual motif conspicuous in the teachings ofNahjul-Balagha iszuhd , which aftertaqwa is the most recurring theme of the book. >Zuhd ’ means renunciation of the >world’, and very often we encounter denunciation of the >world’, and invitation and exhortation to renounce it. It appears to me that it forms one of the important themes ofNahjul-Balagha , which needs to be elucidated and explained in the light of various aspects of Ali’s approach.

We shall begin our discussion with the word >zuhd ’ the words >zuhd ’ and >raghbah ’ (attraction, desire), if mentioned without reference to their objects, are opposite to each other. >Zuhd ’ means indifference and avoidance, and >raghbah > means attraction, inclination, and desire.

Indifference can be of two kinds: involuntary and cultivated. A person is involuntarily indifferent towards a certain thing when by nature he does not have any desire for it, as in the case of a sick person who shows no desire either for food, or fruits, or anything else. Obviously, this kind of indifference and abstinence has nothing to do with the particular sense implied in >zuhd >.

Another kind of indifference or abstinence is spiritual or intellectual; that is, things which are natural objects of desire are not considered the goal and objective by a human being in the course of his struggle for perfection and felicity. The ultimate objective and goal may be something above mundane aims and sensual pleasures; either it may be to attain Thesensuous pleasures of the Hereafter, or it may not belong to this kind of things. It may be some high ethical and moral ideal, like honor, dignity, nobility, liberty, or it may belong to the spiritual sphere, like the remembrance of Allah, the love of Allah, and the desire to acquire nearness to Him.

Accordingly thezahid (i.e. one who practiseszuhd ) is someone whose interest transcends the sphere of material existence, and whose object of aspiration lies beyond the kind of things we have mentioned above. The indifference of azahid originates in the sphere of his ideas, ideals, and hopes, not in his physiological makeup.

There are two places where we come across the definition of >zuhd ’ inNahjul-Balagha . Both of them confirm the above interpretation ofzuhd . Ali (A.S) , inkhutba 81, says the following:

O people!zuhd means curtailing of hopes, thanking Allah for His blessings and bounties, and abstaining from that which He has forbidden.

Inhikma 439, he says the following:

Allzuhd is summarized in two sentences of the Holy Qur’an: Allah, the Most Exalted, says,.So that you may not grieve for what escapes you, nor rejoice in what has come to you . [57:23] Whoever does not grieve over what he has lost and does not rejoice over what comes to him has acquiredzuhd in both of its aspects.

Obviously when something does not occupy a significant position among one’s objectives and ideals, or rather is not at all significant in the scheme of things which matter to him, its gain and loss do not make the slightest difference to him.

However, there are some points that need clarification. Iszuhd , or detachment from the world, on whichNahjul-Balagha , following the Holy Qur’anic teachings, puts so much emphasis, to be taken solely in an ethical and spiritual sense? In other words, iszuhd purely a spiritual state, or does it possess practical implications also? That is, iszuhd spiritual abstinence only or is it accompanied by an abstinence in practical life also? Assuming thatzuhd is to be applied in practice, is it limited to abstinence from unlawful things (muharramat ), as pointed out inkhutba 81, or does it include something more, as exemplified by the life of Ali (A.S)  and before him bythe life of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  ?

Proceeding on the assumption thatzuhd is not limited to-muharramat only and that it covers permissible things (mubahat ) as well, one may ask: what is its underlying rationale and philosophy? What is the use of an ascetic life that limits and confines life, rejecting its blessings and bounties? Iszuhd to be practised at all times or only under certain particular conditions? Iszuhd -in Thesense of abstinence from even permissible things-basically in agreement with other Islamic teachings?

Apart from this, the basis ofzuhd and renunciation of the world is the pursuit of supra-material objectives and ideals. What are they from the point of view of Islam? In particular, how doesNahjul-Balagha describe them?

All these questions regardingzuhd , renunciation, and curtailing of hopes-themes which have so often been discussed inNahjul-Balagha -need to be clarified. We shall discuss these questions in the following pages and try to answer them.

IslamicZuhd and Christian Asceticism

In the last section we said thatzuhd , as defined byNahjul-Balagha , is a spiritual state that makes thezahid , on account of his spiritual and other worldly aspirations, indifferent towards the manifestations of material existence. This indifference is not confined to his heart, intellect, and feelings and is not limited to his conscience. It also manifests itself on the practical level of life in the form of simplicity, contentment, and obstention from hedonistic urges and love of luxuries. A life ofzuhd not only implies that a man should be free from attachment to the material aspects of life, but he should also practically abstain from indulgence in pleasures. Thezuhhad are those who in life are satisfied with the barest material necessities. Ali (A.S)  was azahid , who was not only emotionally detached from the world but also indifferent to its pleasures and enjoyments. In other words, he had >renounced’ the >world’.

Two Questions

Here, inevitably, two questions shall arise in thereader’s mind. Firstly, as we know, Islam has opposed monasticism considering it to be an innovation of Christian priests and monks.[10] the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  has stated in unequivocal terms that:

There is no monasticism (rahbaniyyah ) in Islam.

Once when the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  was informed that some of his Companions had retired into seclusion renouncing everything and devoting all their time to worship and prayer in seclusion, he became very indignant. He told them: A I, who am your prophet, am not such. In this way, the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  made them to understand that Islam is a religion of life and society, not a monastic faith. Moreover, the comprehensive and multi-faceted teachings of Islam in social, economic, political and moral spheres are based on reverence for life, not on its renunciation.

Apart from this, monasticism and renunciation of life are incompatible with the world-view of Islam and its optimistic outlook about the universe and creation. Unlike some other philosophies and creeds, Islam does not view the world and life in society with pessimism. It does not divide all creation into ugly and beautiful, black and white, good and evil, proper and improper, right and wrong. Now The second question may be stated in these words: A Aside from the fact that asceticism is the same as monasticism-which are both incompatible with the Islamic spirit-what is the philosophy underlyingzuhd ?

Moreover, why should men be urged to practisezuhd ? Why should man, seeing the limitless bounties of Allah and good things of life around him, be called upon to pass by the side of this delightful stream indifferently and without so much as wetting his feet? Are the ascetic teachings found in Islam, on this basis, later innovations (bid’ah ) introduced into Islam from other creeds like Christianity and Buddhism? And if this is correct, how are we to explain and interpret the teachings ofNahjul-Balagha ? How can we explain the indubitable details known about the Prophet’s life and that of Ali (A.S)  ?

The answer is that Islamiczuhd is different from Christian asceticism or monasticism. Asceticism is retreat from people and society and seclusion for the purpose of worship. According to it, the life and works of the world are separate from the works of the Here-after and the one is alien to the other. One should, of necessity, choose either one of the two. One should either devote oneself to worship of Allah which shall bear fruits in the Hereafter, or take up the life of the world and benefit from its immediate pleasures. Accordingly, monasticism is opposed to life and social relationships. It requires with-drawal from people and negation of responsibility and commitment towards them.

On the other hand,zuhd in Islam, though it requires a simple and unaffected life-style and is based on abstention from luxuries and love of comforts and pleasures, operates in the very midst of life and social relations and is sociable. It draws inspiration, and proceeds, from the goal of better fulfillment of social responsibilities and duties.

The conception ofzuhd in Islam is not something that would lead to asceticism, because a sharp distinction between this world and the next is nowhere drawn. From the viewpoint of Islam, this world and the next are not separable, not alien to each other. The relation of this world to the other is similar to that between the inward and outward sides of a single reality. They are like the warp and woof of a single fabric. They are to each other as the soul to the body. Their relation-ship can be assumed to be something midway between unity and duality. The works of this world and those of the next are interrelated similarly. Their difference is that of quality, without being essential. Accordingly, that which is harmful for the other world is also to one’s detriment in the present world, and everything which is beneficial for the summum bonum of life in this world is also beneficial for life in the next world. Therefore, if a certain work which is in accordance with the higher interests of life in this world is performed with motives that are devoid of the higher, supra-material, and transcendental elements, that work would be considered totally this-worldly and would not, as the Holy Qur’an tells us, elevate man in his ascent towards Allah. However, if a work or action is motivated by sublime aims and intentions and is executed with a higher vision that transcends the narrow limits of worldly life, the same work and action is considered >other-worldly.’

The Islamiczuhd , as we said, is grounded in the very context and stream of life and gives a peculiar quality to living by emphasizing certain values in life. As affirmed by the Islamic texts,zuhd in Islam is based on three essential principles of the Islamic world-outlook.

The Three Essential Principles

1)Enjoyments derived from the physical, material, and natural means of life are not sufficient for man’s happiness and felicity. A series of spiritual needs are inbuilt in the human nature, without whose satisfaction the enjoyment provided by material means of life is not enough to make man truly happy.

2)The individual’s felicity and happiness is not separable from that of society. Since man is emotionally bound to his society, and carries within him a sense of responsibility towards it, his individual happiness cannot be independent of the prosperity and peace of his fellow men.

3)The soul, despite its fusion and a kind of unity with the body, has a reality of its own. It is a principle in addition to the body which constitutes another principle in itself. The soul is an independent source of pleasure and pain. Like the body, or rather even more than it, it stands in need of nourishment, training, growth, and development. The soul, however, cannot dispense with the health and vigour of the body. At the same time, it is undeniable that total indulgence in physical pleasures and complete immersion into the delights of sensual experiences does not leave any opportunity for realizing the soul’s unlimited possibilities. Therefore, there exists a kind of incompatibility between physical enjoyment and spiritual satisfaction. This is especially true if the attention and attachment to physical needs were carried to the very extreme of total immersion and absorption.

It is not true that all sorrow and grief are related to the soul and that all pleasures are derived from the body. In fact, the spiritual pleasures are much profounder, purer, and lasting than bodily pleasures. To sum up, one-sided attention to physical pleasures and material enjoyments finally results in compromising the total human happiness. Therefore, if we want to make our lives happy, rich, pure, majestic, attractive, and beautiful, we cannot afford to ignore the spiritual aspects of our being.

With due attention to these principles, the meaning ofzuhd in Islam becomes clear. The knowledge of these principles allows us to understand why Islam rejects monasticism but welcomes a form of asceticism which is rooted in the very heart of life and in the context of social existence. We shall explain the meaning ofzuhd in Islamic texts on the basis of these three principles.

The Zahid and the Monk

We said that Islam encourageszuhd but condemns monasticism. Both thezahid and the ascetic monk seek abstinence from pleasures and enjoyments. But the monk evades life in society and therespon-sibilities and the duties it entails, regarding them as the low and mean facets of worldly existence, and takes refuge in mountains or monasteries. On the other hand, thezahid accepts society with its norms, ideals, duties, and commitments. Both thezahid and the monk are otherworldly, but thezahid is a social otherworldly. Also their attitudes to abstinence from pleasures are not identical; the monk disdains hygiene and cleanliness and derides married life and procreation. Thezahid , on the contrary, considers hygiene and cleanliness, matrimony and parenthood to be a part of his duties. Both thezahid and the monk are ascetics, but whereas the >world’ renounced by thezahid is indulgence and immersion in pleasures, luxuries, and comforts (he rejects the attitude which considers them to be life’s ultimate goal and objective), the >world’ renounced by the monk includes life’s work and activity, and the duty and responsibility which go with social life. That is why thezahid ’szuhd operates in the midst of social life, and is, therefore, not only compatible with social responsibility and commitment but is moreover a very effective means of discharging them.

The difference between thezahid and the monk arises from two different world-outlooks. From the viewpoint of the monk, this world and the next are two different spheres, separate from and unrelated to each other. To him, happiness in this world is not only independent of happiness in the next but is incompatible with it. He considers the two forms of happiness as irreconcilable contradictories. Naturally, that which leads to felicity and happiness in this world is considered different from the works and deeds which lead to success in the Hereafter. In other words, the means of acquiring happiness in this world and the next are regarded as being incompatible and contradictory. It is imagined that a single work and action cannot simultaneously be a means for acquiring happiness in both the worlds.

But in the world-view of thezahid , the world and the Hereafter are interconnected. The world is a preamble to the Hereafter. It is a farm of which the Hereafter is the harvest. From thezahid ’s viewpoint, that which gives order, security, uprightness, prosperity, and flourish to life is application of other-worldly criteria to the life of this world.

The essence of felicity and happiness in the other world lies in successful accomplishment of commitments and responsibilities of this world, performed with faith, piety, purity, andtaqwa .

In truth, thezahid ’s concept ofzuhd and the monk’s rationale for his asceticism are incompatible and contradictory to each other. Basically, monasticism is a deviation introduced by men into the teachings of prophets, due to ignorance or vested interests. Now we shall explain the philosophy ofzuhd in the light of the teachings of the Islamic texts.

Zuhd and Altruism

One of the ingredients ofzuhd is altruism.Ithar (altruism) andatharah (egoism) are derived from the same root.Atharah means giving precedence to one’s interests over those of others. In other words it implies monopolizing everything for oneself and depriving others. ButIthar means preferring others over oneself and bearing hardship for the comfort and good of others.

Thezahid , by virtue of his simple, humble, and content living, is hard upon himself so that others may live in ease. He sacrifices for the sake of the needy because with his sensitive heart which feels the pains of others he can relish the world’s bounties only when there does not exist a single man oppressed by need. He derives greater satisfaction by feeding and clothing others and working for their ease than if he did those things for himself. He endures deprivation, hunger, and pain, so that others may be well fed and live without hardships.

Ithar represents the most magestic and sublime manifestation of human greatness, and only very great human beings climb to its noble heights.

The Holy Qur’an refers to the episode of Theself-sacrifice of Ali (A.S)  and his honored family in the glorious verses of SuratHal Ata . Ali (A.S) , Fatima (S.A), and their sons once gave away whatever they had-which was no more than a few loaves of bread-to the poor for the sake of Allah, and despite their own distress. That is why this story circulated among the angels and a verse of the Holy Qur’an was revealed in the praise of their act.

Once when the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  came to visit Hadrat al-Zahra’ (‰), observing that his daughter had put on a silver bracelet and hung a new curtain on the door, signs of unease appeared upon his face. Al-Zahra’ (–) was quick to discern the cause of her father’s reaction. When the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  left, without losing time, she took out her bracelet and removing the curtain from the door, sent them to be carried to the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  so that he might give them to the needy. When al-Zahra’s messenger brought them to the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  he looked at them with amazement. He was glad that his daughter had taken the hint and foregone her simplest luxuries for the benefit of others.

>The neighbours first’, was the maxim in the household of Ali (A.S)  and Fatima (S.A). Inkhutba 193, which describes the qualities of the pious, Ali (A.S)  says the following:

The man of [taqwa ] subjects his own self to hardships so that the people may live in comfort.

The Holy Qur’an describes the Ansar (the Helpers), who in spite of their poverty welcomed the Muhajirun (the Emigrants) as their own brethren, giving them preference over their own selves, in these words:

They love whosoever has migrated to them, not finiding in their breasts any need for what they have been given, and prefer others above themselves, even though poverty be their lot. (59:9)

Obviously, the altruistic ingredient ofzuhd comes into play only under certain conditions. In an affluent society, altruism is less frequently required. But in conditions where poverty and deprivation are prevalent-as in the society of al-Medina during the Prophet’s time-its need is greater. This is one of Thesecrets of the apparent difference of the life-styles of Ali (A.S)  and the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  with therest of the Imams.

In any case,zuhd with its underlying altruistic motives has nothing in common with monasticism and escape from society; instead it is a product of man’s gregarious instincts and a manifestation of his noblest feelings, which reinforce the social bonds between fellow human beings.

Sympathy and Kindness

The sympathy and the willingness to share the suffering of the needy and the deprived is another ingredient ofzuhd . When the destitute witness the luxuries and comforts of the richer classes, their anguish is multiplied. To the hardships of poverty and destitution is added the stinging feeling of deprivation and backwardness in relation to others.

Man, by nature, cannot tolerate to remain a silent spectator while others, who have no merit over him, eat, drink, enjoy and relish freely at the cost of his deprivation. When society is divided into haves and have-nots, the man of Allah considers himself responsible. In the first place, as Amir al-Mu’minin (A.S) says, he should strive to change the situation which permits the gluttony of the rich oppressor and the hunger of the oppressed, in accordance with the covenant of Allah with the learned men of theumma .[11] In The second place, he strives to ameliorate the state of affairs through altruism and self-sacrifice by sharing whatever he possesses with the needy and the deprived. But when he sees the situation deteriorating beyond reparation and it is practically impossible to alleviate the misery of the poor through sympathy, he practically shares their deprivation and tries to soothe their wounded hearts by adopting a life-style similar to that of the poor.

Sympathy with others and sharing their suffering is of essential importance especially in the case of the leaders of theumma on whom all eyes are fixed. Ali (A.S) , more than at any other time, lived a severely ascetic life during the days of his caliphate. He used to say: A Indeed Allah has made it obligatory for just leaders that they should maintain themselves at the level of the poor class so that they do not despair of their distress.[12] Should I be content with being called Amir al-Mu’minin while refusing to share the adversities of the times with the people? Or should I be an example to them in the distress of life? [13]

In the same letter (to >Othman ibn Hunayf), he says the following: A It is absolutely out of question that my desires should overpower me and my greed should lead me to relish the choicest foods while in Hijaz and Yamama there may be some people who despair of even a single loaf of bread and who do not get a full meal. Shall I lie with a satiated belly while around me are those whose stomachs are hungry and whose livers are burning? [14]

At the same time, Ali (A.S)  would reproach anyone else for practicing the same kind of asceticism in life. When faced with their objection as to why he himself practiced it, he would reply, A I am not like you. The leaders have a different duty. This approach of Ali (A.S)  can be observed in the conversation with >Asim ibn Ziyad al-Harith. [15]

In volume 9 ofBihar al-Anwar , it has been related fromAl-Kafi that Amir al-Mu’minin (A.S) said:

A Allah has appointed me as the leader of the people and made it my duty to adopt a way of living, in food and clothing, on par with the poorest classes of the society so that, on the one hand, it may soothe the distress of the poor and, on the other, restrain the rich from revolting. [16]

An incident is related from the life of the greatfaqih Wahid Behbahani, may Allah be pleased with him. One day he observed one of his daughters-in-law wearing a garment made of a fabric usually worn by women of rich families of those days. He reproached his son (the late Aqa Muhammed Isma`il, the lady’s husband) in that regard. The son recited this verse of the Holy Qur’an in reply to his father’s remarks: ASay: Who has forbidden the ornament of Allah which He has brought forth for His servants and the good things of His providing? (7:32).

The father said: A I don’t say that putting on good dresses, eating good food, and making use of Allah’s bounties is forbidden. Not at all. Such restrictions do not exist in Islam. However, there is one thing to be remembered. We are a family charged with the duty of the religious leadership of Muslims and have special responsibilities. When the people of poor families see the rich live luxuriously, their frustration is aggravated. Their only consolation is that at least the Aqa’s family lives like they do. Now if we, too, adopt the life-styles of the rich, that will deprive them of their only consolation. However, we cannot practically change the present social condition, but let us not grudge at least this much of sympathy.

As can be clearly seen,zuhd , which derives motivation from sympathy and readiness to share the sufferings of others, has nothing common with monastic asceticism. It is not based on escapism from the society. The Islamic concept ofzuhd is a means of alleviating the sufferings of the society.

Zuhd and Freedom

Another ingredient ofzuhd is love of freedom and independence. The union betweenzuhd and freedom is as primordial as it is indissoluble.

The dictates of need and exigency are the criteria of opportunists, whereas independence from want is characteristic of free men. The deepest aspiration of the free men unattached to the world is non-encumbrance, buoyancy, absence of hindrance and freedom of movement.

As a result, they adoptzuhd and contentment so as to reduce their wants to a minimum, thus liberating themselves from the bondage of need for things and persons.

The life of a human being, like that of any other [rational] animal, requires a series of natural and indispensable necessities like air, shelter, food, water and clothing. Man cannot free himself entirely from attachment to such needs and other things such as light and heat so as to make himself, in philosophical terminology, A self-sustaining (muktafi bidhatih ).

However, there are series of other wants which are not necessary and natural but are imposed upon one in the course of one’s life either by oneself or by social and historical factors beyond his control, which nevertheless set limits upon his freedom. Such constraints are not very dangerous as long as they are not transformed into inner needs, such as certain political constraints and compulsions. The most dangerous of compulsions are those which emerge as inner needs from within one’s own self to shackle him.

The mechanism of these needs which lead to inner weakness, impotence and defeat, operates in such a way that when one turns to luxuries and comforts in order to add charm, delight and glamour to one’s life so as to feel more secure and strong in order to derive a greater gratification from life, one is impelled to possess more and more things. In the course of time, one gets gradually accustomed to and engrossed in the means of comfort, luxury and power. These habits gradually result in a deeper attachment to and love for those things, and he is bound to them with invisible bonds, thus becoming helpless and impotent in front of them. That is, the same thing which had once added charm and delight to his life later deprives his personality of its vigor, and the same thing which once made him feel powerful against nature now turns him into a helpless slave without a will of his own.

Man’s inclination towardszuhd is rooted in his love of freedom. By nature, he is disposed toward possession of things and their exploitation. But when he realizes that the things, to the very extent they make him outwardly powerful and successful, inwardly transform him into a weakling without a will-power and a slave, he rebels against this slavery. This rebellion of man is what we callzuhd .

Our poets and sages have spoken a lot about freedom and liberation. Hafiz calls himself A the slave of the magnanimity of Him Who is free of everything under the blue sky that carries any taint of attachment. Among the trees, he admires the cypress which to him seems A free of all woes. What those great men meant by A freedom is freedom from attachment, freedom from being possessed, bewitched, and captivated by anything.

But freedom implies something greater than being devoid of attachments. The ties which make a man weak, helpless, dependent, and impotent are not only those which originate in the heart or emotional attachments; to these must be added the various bodily, physical and psychological conditionings and artificial appendages that are first acquired for adding charm and glory to life and for satisfaction of the lust for power and strength, later growing into a form of addiction or rather becoming a second nature. These, while they may not involve one’s emotional attachments, or may even be regarded by one as reprehensible, should be counted as even stronger means of human servitude and which may bring greater even degradation than emotional attachments.

Take the example of an enlightened Aarif with a heart free of worldly attachments, for whom, nevertheless, addiction to tea, tobacco or opium has become a second nature, or for whom abstention from foods to which he is accustomed may endanger his life. Can such a man lead a free existence?

Liberty from attachments is a necessary condition of freedom, but it is not sufficient in itself. Accustoming oneself to a minimum of the niceties of life and abstention from affluent living is another condition of freedom.

The first thing to strike Abu Sa’id al-Khudri, one of the honored Companions, when describing the station of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household) , is:

The Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  of Allah, may peace be upon him and his Household, could manage with the minimum necessities of life.

Is it a merit to be able to do with a minimum of means? If we take only the economic aspect into view, we should say that the Prophet’s level of consumption was quite low. In this respect, therefore, the answer would be: A No, not at all; it is not a significant merit. But if viewed from a spiritual viewpoint, that is when examined by the criterion of freedom from worldly bondage, we have to admit that it is a great merit indeed. Because it is only by acquisition of this merit that a human being can live with any measure of unfettered freedom and unimpeded mobility, and participate in the incessant struggle of life with agility and vigor.

This matter is not restricted to habits involving the individual; binding oneself to social habits and customs, to modes and manners of dealing with people, the mesh of social connections and gatherings, adherence to styles and fashions in dress and demeanour-these and the like of these encumber life and deprive it of dynamism

Freedom of movement in the arena of life is like swimming; lesser the interference and incumbrance for the swimmer, the greater is his ability to move around in water. Too many attachments will not only deprive him of his mobility but bring the danger of drowning.

Athir al-Din Akhsikati (d. 577 or 579/1181 or 1183) says the following:

To cross the river of life, shed your robes;

Nakedness is a condition of keeping afloat.

Farrukhi Yazdi says the following:

Of nakedness the sage does not complain,

A sword of good steel would not rust without a sheath.

Baba Tahir has aruba’i which though intended for some other purpose is nevertheless relevant here:

O heart, thy path is better when covered with thorns;

Your track is better when stretched on heavens high;

Nay, if thou can strip the skin off thine flesh,

Do it, for the lighter thy burden the better it be.

Sa`di, too, relates a relevant fable in the chapter 7 of his Gulistan, although it also aims at some other purpose:

I saw a rich mans son squatting by the side of his father’s grave, and bragging thus before a darwish’s son: A My father’s tomb is constructed of rare stones. Inside, it is paved with marble with enlaid turquois. And look at the one of your father’s! An unbaked brick or two was fetched, on which a handful of earth was thrown.

The sage’s son heard these remarks and replied: A Yet before your father is able to budge under the pile of those stones, my father would have reached the paradise itself.

These are allegories underlining the significance of lightness and freedom from bondages, which is the essential condition for dynamism, nobility, and nimbleness. Leaps, movements, and struggles were achieved by individuals who were practically freer of bondages and attachments; that is, in some sense they werezahid s. Gandhi, with his ascetic mode of life, brought the British imperialism to its knees. Ya’qub Layth Saffar, in his own words, A did not set aside his diet of bread and onions until he became a terror for the caliph. In our own times, the Vietcongs were such an example. Their surprising power of resistance was drawn from what in Islamic idiom has been called A lightness of provisions. A Vietcong could sustain for days in his shelter with a handful of rice and continue his battle with the enemy.

Which leader, religious or political, living in luxury and comfort has brought about drastic upheavals in world history? Which monarch who founded a dynasty, having transferred power from another family to his own, has been a lover of luxuries and comforts?

Ali (A.S)  ibn Abu Talib, may peace be upon him, was the freest of the world’s free men. He was a free man in the complete sense of the word, because he was azahid in the profoundest sense of the word. Ali (A.S) , inNahjul-Balagha , lays great emphasis on renunciation of worldly pleasures and comforts as a means of liberation. In one of the hikam (aphorisms), he says the following:

Greed is everlasting slavery. [17]

In a sermon he describes thezuhd of Jesus, the son of Mary, in these words:

He was free of any abasing greed. [18]

At another place he says the following:

The world is a place of transit, not a place to abide. Its people fall into two categories: those who sell away their souls into slavery, and those who ransom their souls and liberate them. [19]

In a letter to A Othman ibn Hunayf, Ali (A.S)  is more explicit than elsewhere. Towards the end of the letter, addressing the world and its pleasures, he reveals to us the philosophy ofzuhd and Thesecrets of renunciation:

O world! Get away from me! I have thrown thy reins on thy shoulders, have freed myself from thy claws, and released myself from thy snares. Go, get thee away! By Allah, I shall not surrender to thee so that thou should abase me! I shall not follow thee tractably that thou may control me and lead me wherever thou willeth.

Yes. Ali’szuhd is a rebellion against abasement and indignity on account of pleasures. It is a rebellion against human weakness and impotence before the tyranny of desires. It is a defiance of servitude to the world and obsequiousness before its charms.

Zuhd And Spirituality; Zuhd, Love, and Worship

Another fountainhead ofzuhd and renunciation of hedonism is the aspiration to avail of spiritual bounties. Presently we do not intend to undertake any argument to the effect that man and the universe possess an undeniable spiritual aspect. It is another story by itself. It is evident that from a materialistic outlook of the world, therejection of hedonism, materialism, and love of money and wealth as a prerequisite for acquisition of spiritual virtues is devoid of any meaning.

We have, here, nothing to say about the followers of materialism as a school of thought. At present, we address only those who have experienced the aroma of spirituality. For, anybody who has smelled its fragrance knows that as long as one does not liberate oneself from the bondage of desire, as long as the infant soul is not weaned away from the breasts of nature, and as long as the material aspects of life are seen as not being the ultimate end of life and are seen as means, the domain of the heart is not ready for the emergence of chaste emotions, majestic thoughts, and angelic feelings. That is why, it is said, thatzuhd is the essential condition for exuberance of gnosis and is inalienably linked with it.

The worship of Allah, in its real sense, that is, ardour of love and zeal of devotion and service in the way of Allah, His constant presence in thoughts and His remembrance, Thesense of delight and ecstasy in His adoration and worship-it is not at all compatible with self-adoration, hedonist attitude, and being captured by the glamour and charm of material things.

The need ofzuhd is not characteristic solely of the worship of Allah; rather, every kind of love and adoration, whether it pertains to one’s country, creed, conviction, or something else, calls for some kind ofzuhd and indifference towards material aspects of life.

It is characteristic of love and adoration, as opposed to knowledge, science or philosophy, that they have to deal with the heart and as such do not tolerate any rivals. Nothing prevents a scientist or a philosopher who is enslaved to money and wealth from devoting and concentrating his intellectual powers, when necessary, on the study of the problems of philosophy, logic, physics, or mathematics. But it is not possible, at the same time, that his heart should be full to the brim with love, especially love of a spiritual nature, such as for humanity, or his religion and creed. Certainly, it cannot burn with the light of the Divine love nor can it receive an enlightenment or inspiration of a the Divine sort. Consequently, the essential condition for reception of spiritual grace and realization of authentic humanhood is purging the temple of the heart from every trace of materialistic attachments and exterminating from the Ka’bah of the heart all the idols of gold and silver and destroying them.

As we have said before, we should not be led to misinterpret freedom from the bondage of gold and silver, and indifference towards what these metals can be exchanged for, as monastic asceticism which is an attempt to evade responsibility and commitment. Instead, it is only in the light of suchzuhd that responsibility and commitment reacquire their real significance and are no longer empty words without content and hollow claims. The personality of Ali (A.S) , upon whom be peace, is a glorious example of it. In himzuhd and commitment were combined together. While he was azahid who had renounced the world, at the same time, he had a heart that was most sensitive to the demands of social responsibility. On the one hand he used to say:

What has Ali (A.S)  to do with perishable niceties and short-lived pleasures. [20]

On the other hand, a small injustice or the sight of someone in distress was enough to snatch sleep from his eyes at nights. He was ready to go to bed with an empty stomach lest someone in his dominion might have remained hungry:

Shall I stuff my belly with delicious foods while in the Hijaz and Yamama there may be people who have no hope of getting a loaf of bread or a full meal? [21]

There was a direct relation between thatzuhd of his and this sensitiveness. Since Ali (A.S)  was azahid , indifferent to the world and unselfish, with a heart that overflowed with the exuberance of the love of Allah, he looked at the world, from the minutest particle to the greatest star, as a unit entrusted with responsibility and duty. That is why he was so sensitive towards the matters of social rights. Had he been a hedonist devoted to his own interests, he would never have been theresponsible and committed person that he was.

The Islamic traditions are eloquent with regard to this philosophy ofzuhd andNahjul-Balagha lays particular emphasis upon it. In ahadith , it is related from Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (–) that he said:

All hearts that harbour doubt or entertain shirk shall be inauthentic; that is why they adoptedzuhd so that hearts may be emptied and made ready for the Hereafter. [23]

As can be seen from this tradition, every kind of hedonism and attachment to pleasures is considered shirk and contrary to the worship of the One Allah. Masterna (Rumi) describes thezuhd of the A arif in these words:

Zuhd means taking pains while sowing; Mystic knowledge (ma’rifah ) is (care during) its cultivation; the Aarif is the soul of the Law and the spirit oftaqwa ; For mystic knowledge is the fruit of the labours ofzuhd .

Abu Ali (A.S)  ibn Sina, in the ninth namat of hisal- A Isharat , which he devotes to the description of various stations of the mystics (maqamat al- A arifin ), differentiates between thezuhd of the Aarif and that of thenon- A arif . He writes:

Thezahid s who have no knowledge of the philosophy ofzuhd , make a certain deal in their imagination: they barter the goods of the world for the goods of the Hereafter. They forego the enjoyments of the world in order that they may enjoy the pleasures of the Hereafter. In other words, they abstain here in order to indulge there. But an awarezahid , acquainted with the philosophy ofzuhd , practises it because of his unwillingness to engage his inner self with anything other than Allah. Such a man, out of his self-respect, regards anything other than Allah to be unworthy of attention and servitude.

In another section of the same book where he discusses spiritual discipline, Ibn Sina says the following:

This training has three ends in view. First, removal of impediments from the path towards Allah; second, subjugation of the earnal self (al-nafs al- A ammarah ) to the contented self (al-nafs al-mutma’innah ), third, refinement of the inward (batin ).

Then he proceeds to mention the effective means of realization of these three ends. He tells us that truezuhd helps in achieving the first of these objectives, that is, removal of impediments, the non-Allah, from the way.

The Contradiction Between the World and the Hereafter

The problem of the conflict between the world and the Hereafter and the contradiction between them as two opposite poles, such as the north and the south, which are such that proximity to the one means remoteness from the other-is related to the world of human heart, conscience, human attachment, love and worship. Allah has not given two hearts to man:

Allah has not assigned to any man two hearts within his breast. (33:4)

With one heart one cannot choose two beloveds. That is why once when questioned about his old and worn-out clothes, Ali (A.S)  replied:

These make the heart humble, subdue Theself, and induce the believers to follow it as an example. [23]

That is, those who have no new clothes to wear are not ashamed to put on old and worn-out dress. They no longer feel humiliation on their account for they see that their leader himself hasn’t put on any better. Then Ali (A.S)  goes on to add that the world and the Hereafter are like two irreconcilable enemies. They are two divergent paths. Anyone who loves the world and chooses its bondage is, by nature, led to loathe Hereafter and detest everything that is related to it. The world and the Hereafter are like the east and the west, the north and the south. Anyone who approaches the one gets farther from the other. They are like two wives.

In one of his epistles, he writes:

I swear by Allah that, Allah willing, I shall so discipline my own self that it would rejoice to have a single loaf of bread for eating and be content with only salt to season it. (In prayer) I shall empty my eyes of tears until they become like dried up springs. The cattle fill their stomachs on the pasture and lie down to repose. The goats graze, devour green herbs, and enter their enclosures. Should Ali (A.S)  in a similar manner swallow whatever he ean lay his hands on and lie down to doze’? Congratulations! For, if he does that’ after long years he has chosen to follow the wild grazing animals and the cattle led out to pasture. [24]

Then he goes on to add:

Happy is the man who fulfills his duties to Allah and overcomes hardships like a mill grinding the grain, who allows himself no sleep at nights and when it overpowers him lies down on the ground with his hand for a pillow. He is accompanied by those who keep their eyes awake in fear of the Day of Judgment, whose bodies are ever away from their beds, whose lips constantly hum in the Master’s remembrance, whose sins have been erased by prolonged supplications for forgiveness. They are the party of Allah; why surely Allah’s party-they are the ones who prosper. (58:22) [25]

The two passages quoted above completely illustrate therelation-ship betweenzuhd and spirituality. To sum up, one has to choose one of the two paths; either to drink, eat, browse and hanker after sensual pleasures in utter indifference to Thesecrets of the spirit, to avoid the agonies of love and its tears, to speak not of enlightenment and progress, not to take a step beyond the threshold of bestiality; or to resolve on a journey into the valley of authentic humanhood, towards the effulgence and-exuberance of the Divine grace which descends upon chaste hearts and enlightened souls.

Zuhd: Minimum of Intake for Maximum Output

Some days ago I was in Isfahan on a visit for a few days. During it, in a gathering of the learned, a discussion started aboutzuhd . The various aspects of it were scrutinized in the light of the multi-faceted teachings of Islam. Everyone wanted to find a comprehensive and articulate definition ofzuhd . Among them a learned high school teacher, [27] who (I later came to know, that he was writing a treatise on the subject, the manuscript of which he showed me later) suggested a wonderfully eloquent definition ofzuhd . He said:

Islamiczuhd is minimizing the intake and maximizing the output.

This definition fascinated me and I saw that it was in conformity with my own earlier understanding and the conclusions that I have drawn in the foregoing chapters. Here I, with the permission of that learned man, making a little amendment in his definition, would say:

Zuhd in Islam means drawing a minimum of intake for the sake of maximizing the output.

That is, there exists a relation between drawing as little as possible of material benefits of life on the one hand and aiming at maximizing one’s output on the other. Human A outputs, whether in the sphere of the actualization of one’s potentialities, whether on the level of emotion and morality, or from the point of view of individuals role in social co-operation and mutual help, or from the aspect of realizing spiritual edification and refinement, all in all have a converse relationship to his intake of material benefits.

It is a human characteristic that the greater one’s enjoyment of material benefits and indulgence in such things as pleasures, luxuries, and affluence, the greater is one’s weakness, indignity, impotence, sterility, and impoverishment. Conversely, abstinence from indulgent and extravagant enjoyment of nature-of course, within definite limits-refines and purifies human nature and invigorates and strengthens two of the highest of all human powers: thought and will.

It is true only of animals that greater benefit from the possibilities provided by nature contributes to their animal development and perfection. Even in animals it is not applicable when we consider what is called the A merit’ desirable in a beast. For example, sheep and cattle which are reared for obtaining greater amount of meat, milk, or fleece should be given greater attention and care and fed well. However, this is not true of a race horse. It is impossible for a common stable horse to show any good performance in a race. The horse which has to run and win races is given days or rather months of training with a controlled diet until its body becomes lean and nimble, shedding all its excessive fat so that it can acquire the desirable agility and speed or the A excellence of which it is capable.

Zuhd is also an exercise and discipline for man. But it is the exercise of the soul. Throughzuhd the soul is disciplined; shedding all excessive appendages, and becoming, as a result, light, agile, and nimble, it takes an easy flight into the skies of spiritual merits.

Incidentally, Ali (A.S)  also describestaqwa andzuhd as A exercise and practice. The wordriyadah originally meant exercising horses intended for racing. Physical exercise is also calledriyadah. Ali (A.S)  says the following:

Indeed, as to my self, I shall exercise it and discipline it throughtaqwa . [27]

What about plant life? Like animals that which may be, loosely speaking, called the merit of a tree or shrub is its capacity to thrive with a minimum amount of nourishment from nature. Ali (A.S) , also, makes an allusion to this point in one of his letters to his governors. In that letter, after describing his own ascetic life-style, characterized by a minimum of consumption, Ali (A.S)  encourages him to emulate it. He says the following:

I can already anticipate your criticism. Someone might say that if this is what the son of Abu Talib eats then weakness should have made him unfit for an encounter with the enemy’s warriors. Remember the untended tree that thrives in the harsh conditions of the desert-its wood is firm and tough; even the fire lit from it is more enduring and fierce.

This law, which applies to all living things, is more effective in the case of man because of the various characteristics special to him which are summed up under the term A human personality. [28]

The word Azuhd ’, despite its sublime human meaning, has suffered an evil fate, and is fiercely denounced particularly in our own times. Sometimes, the term is advertently or otherwise misinterpreted; some-times it is equated with sanctimoniousness and show of piety; at other times, it is considered equivalent to monasticism and ascetic seclusion. Everybody is free to coin terms of his own with any meaning of his own choice. But no one has the right to condemn any concept or term by imparting to it a wrong and misconceived meaning and sense. In its system of ethics and education, Islam has used a certain term,zuhd .Nahjul-Balagha and the Islamic tradition are replete with it. Before we make any judgment aboutzuhd in Islam, first, before everything, we must understand its Islamic connotation. The meaning ofzuhd in Islam is what we have tried to explain, and the philosophy behind it is what we have discussed in the light of Islamic texts. If anyone finds any fault with this meaning and philosophy, let him inform me so that I too might be benefited.

What school of thought and what kind of logic can justify monasticism? What school of thought can recommend and justify the worship of money, consumerism, love of goods, lust for position, or-to use an expression which includes them all-worldliness? Is it possible for man to be the slave and prisoner of material things-or in the words of Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (A.S) , A the slave of the world and the slave of him who exercises control over it’-and yet speak of A human personality?

Here, it would not be out of place to cite the views of a Marxist writer about therelation between love of money and human personality. In a useful and concise book regarding capitalist and Marxist economies, he points out the moral consequences of the power of money for society. He writes:

The extraordinary power of A gold over our contemporary society is something deeply detested by men of sensitive nature. Men in search of truth have always expressed their strong aversion towards this filthy metal, and consider it to be the main cause of corruption in contemporary society. However, those little round pieces of a shining yellow metal called A gold are really not to be blamed. The power and domination of money as a general manifestation of power and authority of things over man is the essential characteristic of a disorderly economy based on barter and exchange. In the same way as the uncivilized man of ancient times adored and worshipped idols made by his own hands, the contemporary man also worships the product of his own labour, and his life is overwhelmed by the power of things he has made with his own hands. In order that the worship of consumer goods and the worship of money, which is the filthiest form evolved of idolatry, may be completely eradicated, the social causes which brought them into existence should be eliminated and the society should be so organized that the power and authority of the little coins of this yellow brilliant metal would be thoroughly obliterated. In such an organization of society, things will no more wield their present power over human beings. On the other hand, man’s power and predominance over things shall be absolute and according to a preconceived scheme. Then worship of money and things shall give their place to honor and reverence for the human personality.

We agree with the author that the power of things over man, and in particular the authority of money, is opposed to the demands of human dignity and nobility, and is as condemnable as idolatry. However, we do not agree with his suggested exclusive prescription for solution of this problem.

Here we are not concerned with the question whether collective ownership is preferable from a social or economic point of view. Nevertheless, morally speaking, this suggestion, instead of redeeming society’s spirit of honesty, eliminates right away the very object of honesty!

Man can reclaim his identity only by liberating himself from the power of money and by bringing money under his own control. True human personality can emerge when the danger of money and goods remains possible without overcoming man, who is not ruled by them but rules them. This kind of personality is what Islam callszuhd .

In the educational system of Islam, man regains his personality without the need to obliterate the right of property. Those who are trained in the school of Islamic teachings are equipped with the power ofzuhd . They strip money and goods of their power and subjugate them to their own authority.

SECTIONS SIX & SEVEN

THE WORLD AND WORLDLINESS

Renunciation inNahjul-Balagha

Of the frequent themes ofNahjul-Balagha is strong warning against the dangers of worldliness. Our preceding discussion aboutzuhd (asceticism) and its aims also serves here to shed a light on the meaning of worldliness becausezuhd, which is strongly enjoined, is the very opposite of the worldliness which is severely condemned. To define and explain any one of them is to define and explain the other. However, in view of the tremendous emphasis laid in Ali’s moralsermon s upon the warning against the dangers of worldliness, we considered it appropriate to devote a separate chapter to this topic with a view to further explaining this concept so that all ambiguities in this matter are removed.

The first point to be investigated is: Why so much attention has been given to the concept ofzuhd in the sayings andsermon s of Amir al-Mu’minin to the extent that no other issue has been so much underscored by him, and neither the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  nor any of the other Imams has spoken as repeatedly about the deceptions of worldly life, its ephemeral and temporal nature, the disloyalty of its slippery comforts and the dangers of wealth, affluence and immersion in and complete surrender to worldly pleasures and comforts.

The Danger Created by War Booty

This was not a matter of accident. Rather, it was something related to the conditions that came into existence during Ali’s times, that is, during the days of the past caliphs, especially during the caliphate of A Othman. A series of serious dangers visited the world of Islam in the wake of the influx of huge amounts of wealth and riches. Ali (A.S)  sensed its dangerous consequences and struggled against them. This struggle is reflected in his practices and policies during the period of his caliphate, in the course of which he ultimately gave up his life. This struggle, at the ideological level, is also reflected in hissermon s, letters, and sayings.

The Muslims were blessed with great victories in battles that diverted huge amounts of property and wealth into the Muslim world. However, instead of being utilized for public benefit or distributed justly among the people, the wealth fell into the hands of a few individuals and an elite A class. Especially during the days of A Othman, this imbalance became greatly pronounced. Persons who possessed nothing only a few years ago appropriated for their personal use fabulous amounts of wealth. This was the time when worldly tendencies gained momentum in the Muslim society and the Muslimumma started on a course of moral decline and degeneration.

It was following the awareness of this great danger to society that Ali (A.S)  raised his cry of protest to warn theumma of Islam. Al-Mas’udi, writing about the days of A Othman, says the following: A Othman was a man of extraordinary generosity (of course, it was exercised at the cost of the public treasury). The government officials and the people followed his example. He was the first among the caliphs to build a mansion of stone and mortar with wooden doors made of teak and juniper. He amassed other properties, such as gardens, orchards and springs in Medina. When he died, there were 150,000 dinars and a thousand thousand (million) dirhams in cash with his treasurer. His property in Wadi al-Qura, Hunain, and elsewhere was valued above 100,000 dinars. His legacy consisted of a large number of horses and camels.

Then he writes he following: A During his reign, a group of his associates also hoarded similar amounts of wealth. Al-Zubayr ibn al- A Awwam built a mansion in Basra which still stands intact in the year 332 H. [al-Mas’udi’s own time]. It is also well known that he built similar mansions in Egypt, Kufa, and Alexandria. When al-Zubayr [ibn al-`Awwam] died, he left 50,000 dinars in cash, a thousand horses and thousands of other things. The brick, mortar and teak mansion which Talhah ibn A Abdullah built in Kufa still exists and is known asDar al-Talhatayn. Talhah’sdaily income from his properties in Iraq was one thousand dinars. He had one thousand horses in his stables. A one-thirty-second (1/32) part of the wealth that he left at his death was estimated at 84,000 dinars.

Al-Mas’udi mentions similar amounts of wealth in the possession of Zayd ibn Thabit, Ya`li ibn Umayyah and others. Evidently, such huge amounts of wealth do not emerge from under the ground nor fall from the sky. Such immense riches are never amassed except by the side of extreme and horrifying poverty. This is why Ali (A.S) , insermon 129, after warning the people of the dangers of worldliness, says the following: A You live in a period when virtues recede and evils advance step by step, and Satan becomes greedier in his eagerness to ruin human beings. Today, his equipment have been reinforced, his traps are set in every place, and his prey comes easily. Look around; you will see either a poor man hardly able to breathe in extreme poverty and penury, or a rich man who has transformed Allah’s blessings into his own infidelity, or you will see a miser who makes stinginess in discharging the obligations imposed by Allah a means of increasing his own wealth, or you will find the rebellious whose unruly hearts are deaf to moral admonition. Where are the virtuous, the righteous among you? Where are the free men and the magnanimous? Where are those who avoid every trace of deceit in their dealings and pursue piety and honesty in their ways?

The Intoxication of Affluence

Amir al-Mu’minin (A.S), in his utterances, has used the phrasesakarat al-ni’mah , meaning A intoxication induced by comfort and affluence’, which is inevitably followed by a vengeful disaster. Insermon 151, he warns them thus: A You, O people of Arabia, would be victims of calamities which are drawing near. Beware of the intoxication induced by affluence and fear the vengeful disaster which will follow it.

Then he describes the misfortunes caused by such immoderation. Insermon 187, he foretells the future calamities that were to befall the Muslim society. He says the following: A This would happen when you would be intoxicated, not by drinking wine, but with wealth and affluence.

Yes, the flow of immense amounts of wealth into the coffers of the Islamic domain and the unjust distribution of this wealth, together with nepotism and partiality, infected the Islamic society with the disease of worldliness and the race for affluence.

Ali (A.S)  struggled to save the Islamic world from this grave danger. He was severely critical of those who were responsible for the infection to set in. He set an example of an altogether different life style in his own personal living and, on attaining caliphate, he gave the top priority to the campaign against these dangers in his revolutionary program.

The General Aspect of Ali’s Warnings

This prologue was intended to cast light at the particular aspect of the warnings of Amir al-Mu’minin (A.S) against worldliness as a specific reaction to a particular social phenomenon of his time. Yet, aside from this particular feature, there is a general aspect to Ali’s words that is not confined to his own time and applies to all times and all people as an essential part of Islamic teachings. This specific logic emanates from the teaching of the Holy Qur’an which is followed up in the sayings of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household) , Amir al-Mu’minin (A.S) and the rest of Imams (A.S), as well as in the writings of great Muslim sages. However, it is a logic which needs a detailed analysis. In the present discussion, our concern will be more with the general aspect of the discourses of Amir al-Mu’minin (A.S) in the sense that in them, Ali (A.S)  addresses himself to all human beings of all times.

The Terminology of Every School

Every school of thought has a terminology which is specific to it. In order to understand the concepts and issues of a certain school, it is essential to be familiar with its terms. On the other hand, in order to understand its particular terminology, it is necessary, in the first place, to understand its general view of the universe, life and man: that is, its Weltanschauung.

Islam has a clear view of being and creation. It has a particular way of looking at man and his life. One of the fundamental principles of the Islamic world outlook is the notion that there is no duality of any kind whatsoever in being; that is, the world of creation is not divisible into two domains of A good and A evil. That is, it is not true that some existent beings are good and beautiful and should have been created, whereas some are evil and ugly and should not have been created but nevertheless exist. Such a view is regarded as kufr in the Islamic world outlook and is considered contrary to the principle of tawhid. According to Islam, the creation of all things is based on goodness, wisdom and beauty: A You see no imperfection [whatsoever] in the creation of the All-merciful One (67:3).

A He knows the unseen and the seen, [He is] the Almighty, the all-Compassionate Who made everything He created good. (32:6-7)

Accordingly, Islam’s condemnation of A the world does not apply to the world of creation. The Islamic world outlook rests on the foundation of pureTawhid and lays great emphasis on the Unity of the Acting Principle; it does not admit the existence of any partner who would share Allah’s sovereignty. Such a world outlook can never be pessimistic. The idea of an evil world abounding in crookedness and wickedness is not an Islamic notion. Then why does it denounce A the world?

The Condemned A World

Commonly, it is said that attachment to the A world is condemned and disapproved by Islam. This is both true and false. If what is implied is an emotional attachment, it cannot be true because man, in relation to the total system of creation, has been created with a series of congenital emotional attachments and inclinations. In addition, he does not acquire these inclinations, nor are they superfluous or incongruous. Even as in the human body there is no superfluous organ-not even a single nerve ending-so also there are no redundant congenital tendencies of attachment in his nature. All innate human tendencies, and aptitudes have a purpose which is wise and sagacious. The Holy Qur’an regards such tendencies as the A signs of the Divine Wisdom and the Creator’s consummate design:

And of His signs is that He created for you, of yourselves, spouses, that you might repose in them, and He has set between you love and mercy. (30:21)

These attachments and sentiments form a series of channels of communication between man and his world. Without them man would not be able to pursue the course of his development. Consequently, it should be said that the Islamic world outlook, even as it does not permit us to denounce and reject the world, it also does allow us to regard the natural attachments and the channels of communication as superfluous, useless, and breakable, because such sentiments and tendencies are a part of the general pattern of creation. In fact, the prophets and theawliya ’ were endowed with these sentiments and emotions to a high degree of exuberance.

The truth is that what is implied by A attachment to the world’ are not these natural and innate inclinations; instead, what is meant is bondage to material and worldly affairs and total surrender to them, which leads to spiritual stagnation and inertia, deprives the human spirit of its freedom of movement and buoyancy, and makes it immobile and dead. That is what Islam calls A worldliness and has severely campaigned against it as something contrary to the evolutionary system of creation. Not only this, Islam considers this struggle as being in tune with the laws of the evolutionary processes of creation. The expressions employed by the Holy Qur’an in this regard are miraculous, as we shall explain in the following sections.

Therelation Between Man and the World

As made explicit in the last chapter, that which is regarded as disapprovable by the Holy Qur’an and the Nahj al-balaighah is neither the world-in-itself, nor the natural and innate human urges and attachments. In the view of Islam, neither has the world been created without a purpose, nor has man strayed into it aimlessly.

There have been, and are, some schools of thought which view the world with pessimism. In their view, the existing order of the universe is far from being perfect. There have existed other schools which considered man’s entry into the world of existence to be theresult of some cosmic error, as if man had strayed into it. According to them, man is a total stranger in this world with which he has no ties of consanguinity, and is a prisoner of existence. Like Joseph, he has been thrown into the black-hole of being by his evil brethren where he is confined and his every endeavour should be aimed at finding an exit from this abyss.

Obviously, when therelation of man to the world and nature is regarded as the one between a prison and its prisoner, and an abyss and one eptrapped in it, his ultimate aim cannot be anything but seeking A deliverance’.

The Logic of Islam

But from the viewpoint of Islam, therelation of man to the world is not that of a prisoner with his prison; or that of one entrapped in a well with the well; rather it is the kind of relation that exists between a peasant and his farm [1] , or a horse and the racecourse [2] , or a merchant and the marketplace [3] , or a devotee and his temple [4]. The world, from the Islamic point of view, is a school for man, his training ground, and the place where he can acquire perfection.

There is an anecdote related inNahjul-Balagha of a man who condemned the world in Amir al-Mu’minin’s presence. Ali (A.S)  rebuked him for his confusing A the world which is condemned by Islam with the actual physical world and informed him about his error [5]. Sheikh Farid al-Din A Attar has rendered this incident into verse in hisMusibat nameh :

In the presence of the Tiger of Providence,

A man denounced the world with vehemence.

A The world A , exclaimed Hayder, A is not to be blamed A .

Wretched are you, being far from wisdom.

The world, son, is a farm To be attended to day and night.

Whatsoever is of the honor and riches of faith,

An in all it is to be acquired from this world.

Tomorrow’s fruit is the blooming of today’s seed;

And one who is idle here, shall taste the bitter fruit of regret.

The world is the best place for you,

Where in you can prepare provision for the Hereafter.

Go into the world, but don A t get immersed in the ego.

And prepare yourself for the other world.

If you act thus, the world will suit you,

Hence befriend the world just for this aim.

Nasir Khusrow A Alawi, justifiably considered a philosopher among the poets (Hakim al-shu’ara’ ), is one of the most profound and truly religious among Persian poets. He has composed a eulogy about the world, simultaneously highlighting both the good and evil qualities of it, which is as much in conformity with the Islamic outlook as it is extraordinarily beautiful from artistic viewpoint. This eulogy appears in his collected poetical works (diwan ), and is included in his bookJami’ al-hitmatayn . He says the following:

O world, how apt and essential you are,

Even though you haven’t been loyal to any.

Sick and wretched you appear to the afflicted eye,

Yet fine and healthy if one looks at your inside.

If sometimes you have broken a robust man or two,

Many a broken one you have joined and restored.

You are filthy to the unclean,

To the pure unstained.

If any one should blame you, say,

A You know me not. A

You have grown out of me.

If you are wise,

Why blame the tree of which you are a branch?

The Master made me a path for your ascending journey,

And you have settled down on this lowly road.

Allah planted a tree from whose trunk you have grown;

If you grow out straight, you will be saved,

And if crooked, confined to the flames.

Yes, everyone burns crooked branches,

And asks not A Is it teak or walnut?

You are the arrow of Allah aimed at His enemy,

Why have you hurt yourself with this weapon?

Now it is evident that man’s relation to the world is similar to the one that exists between the farmer and his field of cultivation, between the merchant and the marketplace, between the devotee and the temple. It is not possible for man to alienate himself from the world or sever his ties with it or to develop a kind of relationship which is wholly negative. There exists a design and intelligent planning behind every natural urge. Man has neither come to this world by cheating or fraud, nor should he go from here as an accused.

There is a general force of attraction and gravitation that encompasses the whole universe. All the particles in it attract each other according to a set pattern. This pattern of mutual attraction and absorption is determined by a judicious design. Moreover, the force of attraction and love is not confined to man alone. No particle in the universe is devoid of this power. The difference, however, is that man, contrary to other things, is aware of his own leanings and inclinations.

Wahshi Kirmani says the following:

Every dancing particle is permeated with the same force of attraction

That draws it towards a certain specific goal.

It carries one Rower to the side of another,

And urges one spark to pursue the company of its likes,

From fire to wind, from water to dust,

From underneath the moon to the top of the heavens,

From flock to flock and from horde to horde,

You will observe this attraction in every moving thing

From heavenly spheres to the terrestrial bodies.

Accordingly, from the viewpoint of Islam the world is neither without a purpose nor is human being created by any error, nor are man’s innate tendencies undesirable and evil. Then what is meant by A the world that the Holy Qur’an andNahjul-Balagha regard as undesirable and condemnable?

Before embarking on the issue, a few preliminary principles need to be clarif ied. It is characteristic of man that he is inherently an idealist and a lover of perfection. He is in Thesearch of something with which he wants to develop a relationship closer than an ordinary attachment. In other words, he is by nature a devotee and a worshipper in search of something which is the ultimate object of his desire and the end of his entire being.

However, if he is not rightly guided, or not on his guard, his relation with things and inclination towards them is transformed into a relation of reliance and attachment, changing means into end and an association into bondage. As a result his spirit of mobility, freedom and capacity to quest are transformed into inertia, complacence and captivity.

This is what is undesirable and contrary to the perfection-seeking order of the world. It is a defect and a kind of non-being, not a merit or a positive mode of being. It is a dangerous malady and a disaster for man, and this is against which the Holy Qur’an andNahjul-Balagha warn.

Without any doubt, Islam does not regard the material world and life in it-even if it involves the greatest material achievements-as a fitting goal of man’s highest aspirations. This is because, firstly, in the Islamic world outlook, this world is followed by the eternal and everlasting world of the Hereafter where conditions of life would be determined by the deeds, good or evil, of a person in this world. Secondly, the worth of a human being is too great to warrant his surrender to the slavery of and servitude to the material aspects of life.

That is why Ali (A.S)  so often points out that the world is a good place, but only for him who knows that it is not a permanent abode, but only a road or a caravanserai.

What a good abode it is for him who would not want to make it a home. [6]

This world indeed is a transit camp, whereas the Hereafter is a place of permanent abode. So take from the transit what you need for your destination. [7]

From the viewpoint of humanistic philosophies there is no doubt that everything which binds man to itself and immerses him completely within itself violates his human identity by making it inert and frozen. The process of human perfection knows no limit or end, and every halt, delay and bondage is injurious to it. As we find no reason to controvert this view, we accept it without any argument. However, there are two other points that need to be discussed here.

Firstly, does the Holy Qur’an and following itNahjul-Balagha confirm such a relation between man and his world? Is it true that what the Holy Qur’an condemns is attachment and bondage to the world when taken as the ultimate end of life, an attitude which retards man’s movement towards perfection and represents inertness, stagnation, and non-being? Does the Holy Qur’an abstain from absolutely condemning worldly ties and sentiments so long as they do not become man’s ultimate goal of life and stall his progress?

Secondly, if it is admitted that human attachment to beings other than himself causes bondage and servitude, and retards the development of human personality, does it make any difference if that being is Allah or something else?

The Holy Qur’an negates every form of bondage and servitude and calls man to welcome every kind of spiritual and human freedom. It does not, however, condemn servitude to Allah; it does not invite man to liberate himself from Allah in order to acquire absolute freedom. Instead, the invitation of the Holy Qur’an is based on liberation from everything besides Allah and complete surrender to Him. It is based on therejection of obedience to anything except Him and the acceptance of submission to Him.

The expression ALa ilaha illa Allah ’ (There is no god except Allah) is the foundation of the Islamic faith. It implies simultaneously a negation and an affirmation, a rejection and an acceptance, andkufr andiman . It signifies the negation, therejection, therenunciation, and thekufr in relation to the non-Allah, and the affirmation, the acceptance, the submission, and theiman in relation to Allah. The essential testimony required by Islam is neither just a A Yes’ nor merely a A NO; it is a combination of both a A Yes and a A NO.

If the needs of the growth of the human personality demand that man should liberate himself from every kind of bondage, servitude, and submissiveness to anything whatsoever, that he should revolt against everything that compromises his absolute freedom, that he ought to say A NO to everything-as the Existentialists say-what difference does it make whether that thing is Allah or something else? And if it is to be decided that man should renounce his freedom and adopt slavery, servitude and submission to something, what difference does it make, after all, whether it is Allah or something else?

Is there a difference between accepting Allah as the supreme ideal and accepting some other thing as the Summum Bonum? Does it mean that only Allah is such that servitude to Him is freedom in itself, and that losing oneself in Him is identical with therealization of one’s self and therecovery of one’s true identity and personality? And if this is true, what is the basis of this claim? How can it be justified?

In our opinion, here we arrive at one of the subtlest, most profound, and progressive teachings of Islam and one of the most glorious of human ideas. It is here that the sublimity of the logic of Islam and the insignificance and pettiness of other ideologies becomes evident. We shall answer these queries in the following sections.

A The World’ in the Holy Qur’an andNahjul-Balagha

In the last chapter we said that that which is execrable from the viewpoint of Islam with regard to man’s relation with the world is that it should grow to the extent of becoming a malady and an affliction of the human soul. It is the bondage and the enslaving attachment to the world against which Islam has waged an unrelenting struggle considering it as undesirable, not the mere relation and attachment with it. It is the life of captivity that is condemnable, not the life of freedom. The world is rejected as a goal and objective and not as a way or a means.

If therelation of man to the world develops into his servitude and subjugation, it leads to the negation and obliteration of all higher human values; man’s worth lies in the greatness of his pursued ends and objectives. Obviously, if, for instance, his ultimate objectives do not go beyond filling his belly to satisfaction, and if all his efforts and aspirations were to revolve around his stomach, his worth will not surpass that of his stomach. That is why Ali (A.S)  says the following: A The worth of a man whose only aim is to stuff his belly is equal to that which is excreted from it.

The question is what kind of relation is appropriate between the human being and the world and what form should it have. In one kind of relation, his personality is effaced and sacrificed to things, and since the worth of anyone in pursuit of an objective is lower than the objective itself, he is, to use a Holy Qur’anic expression, bound to sink to the level of A the lowest of the low’ (asfal al-safilin ), becoming thereby the most abject, degenerate and the most contemptible creature in the world. He, then, loses not only his higher values but also his human identity. In the other kind of relation the world and worldly things are sacrificed at the altar of his humanity and are used to serve man while he reclaims his higher ideals. That is why it has been said in ahadith-e qudsi:

O son of Adam! I have created everything for thy sake,

but I have created thee for My Own Self.

We have already cited two passages fromNahjul-Balagha indicating its position in denouncing the degenerate and distorted kind of relationship between man and the world of nature that leads to man’s servitude and bondage. Here we shall quote a few verses from the Holy Qur’an to endorse this viewpoint, and return toNahjul-Balagha for further relevant references.

The Holy Qur’anic verses relating to man and the world are of two kinds: the first group of verses is of an introductory nature; that is, it lays the ground for The second group of verses. In truth, the first group can be regarded as representing the major and the minor premises of a syllogism of which The second group constitutes the conclusion.

The first set of verses consists of those which emphasize the changeability, the inconstancy and the ephemeral nature of this world. In these verses thereality of material objects is depicted as being changeable, fleeting, and transitory. For instance, the world is compared to the vegetation that sprouts from the ground. In the beginning it is green and flourishing but little by little turns yellow, shrivels, and ultimately dries up. Then the elements break it into bits and scatter it into the wind. Such is life in the present world.

Obviously, whether man should like it or not his physical life is not much more durable than that of thereed, and is subject to a similar fate. If man must base his outlook on reality and not on fancy and if it is only through the discovery of truth and not by flight of imagination and hallucinations that he can hope to attain felicity and true happiness, then he should not forget this truth.

This set of verses constitutes a kind of a background argument for denying the importance of material things as ultimate ideals worthy of man’s adoration. These verses are followed immediately by thereminder that man should know that there exists another world which is eternal and everlasting. Don’t imagine that the present life is everything that there is; and since it is not worthy of man, do not conclude that life is futile and meaningless, they remind.

The second set of verses illuminates the solution to the problem of man’s relation to the world. It can be clearly seen from these verses that the execrable form of relation is one that grows to the extent of becoming a bondage, requiring man’s submission, willing surrender and servitude to the transitory things of the world. It is in these verses that the crux of the Holy Qur’an’s logic comes to light:

1)Wealth and sons are the adornment of the worldly life; but the abiding things, the deeds of righteousness (which survive one’s death and continue to benefit other people), are better with Allah in reward and better in hope . (18:46)

This verse, as can be seen, speaks of the ultimate aspiration of man. His ultimate aspiration is the thing for which he lives and without which life has no meaning in his eyes.

2)Surely those who look not to encounter Us and are well-pleased with the present life and are at rest in it, and those who are heedless of Our signs, those-their refuge is the Fire, for that they have been earning. (10:7-8)

In this verse, that which is considered execrable is the absence of hope in the next life and the satisfaction and contentment with material things.

3)So turn thou from him who turns away from Our remembrance, and desires only the present life. That is their attainment of knowledge. (53:29-30)

4)And they rejoice in this world’s life; and this world’s life is nothing compared with the Hereafter but a temporary enjoyment. (13:26)

5)They know an outward part of the present life, but of the Hereafter they are heedless. (30:7)

There are many other verses which have a similar meaning. In all of them the same theme recurs, that is the negation of the world as the goal and ideal of man’s highest aspirations and the ultimate object of his desire, and the only source of his happiness and delight. It is held that this form of relation between man and the world, instead of putting the world at man’s disposal, sacrifices man to it and dispossesses him of his humanity.

InNahjul-Balagha as in the Holy Qur’an we encounter a similar twofold argument. In the first set of statements the transitory nature of the world is depicted in profound, forceful metaphors, allegories and parables put in precise and elegant phrases which follow one another in an absorbing rhythm. In The second category, conclusions are drawn which are exactly the same as those derived by the Holy Qur’an.

InKhutbah 32, people are at first divided into two categories: the worldly and the otherworldly. The worldly people are again divided into four groups.

In the first group are put those who are meek and tractable like sheep. They are the most innocuous of creatures, never seen to commit any overt injustice or aggression, or covert deceit or subversion. Not that they detest such things but because they lack the power and daring to carry them out.

To The second category belong those who possess both the power and the daring to carry out such ambitions. They muster their will to amass money and wealth, to acquire power and authority, or to occupy important posts and offices and do not stop short of any degree of perverseness.

Those belonging to the third group are wolves in the skins of sheep. They are slaves of the world in the garb of the otherworldly and the pious. The y, sanctimoniously, hang their heads in affected humility, walk with the slow steps of a sage and dress like the devout. Through their hypocrisy they win the confidence of the people and become their most confident trustees.

To the fourth group belong those whose hearts burn regretfully with the fire of ambition but their feeling of inferiority has forced them to retire to seclusion. They put on the dress of piety andzuhd in order to conceal their deep sense of inferiority and dejection.

All the four kinds of people, regardless of the diverse degrees of their success and failure, are regarded by Ali (A.S)  ( A) to constitute, spiritually, a single class on account of their commonly shared attitude: worldliness. Why? Because all of them have one common characteristic: they are like the unfortunate birds whom the world has made its prey one way or another. Captured, they enjoy no longer the freedom of flight. They are slaves and prisoners of the world.

In the samesermon , Ali (A.S)  describes the qualities of the other-worldly, the opposite group, and says the following:

Evil is the barter of those who purchase this world at the cost of their souls.

In the eyes of Ali (A.S)  the whole world with everything in it is too inferior to be the price of a man’s humanity; hence it ends in the great loss of one who exchanges it for his human identity. Nasir Khusrow has the same theme in mind, when he says the following:

Never shall I fall an easy prey to the world,

For no more do its woes burden my heart.

In fact, I am the hunter and the world my prey,

Yough once it did pursue me on its hunt.

Yough many a man has fallen pierced by its arrows,

The world could not make me a target.

My soul flies over the world’s tides,

And no more do I worry about its waves and tides.

This theme that one should never sacrifice one’s humanity for anything in the world is a theme that recurs a lot in the sayings of the leaders of the Islamic faith. Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (A.S)  in his famous will to al- A Imam al-Hasan (–) which is included in Thesection ofEpistle (letters) inNahjul-Balagha , says the following:

Keep your self above every contemptible thing, because, whatever it should be, it is not worth the compromise of your self.

In the account of his life given in theBihar al- A anwar , al- A Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (–) is reported to have said:

The price of my soul is (the good-pleasure of) its Master the whole of creation doesn A t equal its worth.

In theTuhaf al- A uqul , the following tradition is recorded:

Al- A Imam al-Sajjad (–) was asked, A Who is the most important among people? He replied, A The one who does not regard the whole world to be equal to his worth.

There are many traditions which deal with a similar theme, but we shall abstain from quoting more for the sake of brevity.

A close study of the Holy Qur’an,Nahjul-Balagha , and the sayings of other religious leaders, will reveal that Islam has not depreciated the world; rather it has elevated the station and worth of the human being as compared to it. For Islam, the world is for the sake of man and not the other way round. It aims to revive human values, not to disparage the world.

Freedom and Bondage

Our discussion about the meaning of A worldliness inNahjul-Balagha has become somewhat drawn out. However, one issue, which cannot be omitted, remains unanswered. We raised it earlier in the form of a question which we had promised to answer later. The question was this: If attachment and bondage to anything is a kind of unhealthy condition that leads to abandonment of human values and cause stagnation, inertness, and inertia of the human personality, what difference does it make whether that thing is something material or spiritual, this worldly or otherworldly, or, as goes the saying, A the Master or the apple? It may be said that if the aim of Islam by prohibiting attachment and warning against bondage to temporal things is to safeguard the human being’s identity and to rescue him from servitude and to protect him from stagnating and vegetating in life, it should have encouraged man to acquire absolute freedom and to consider everything that compromises and confines it askufr ; for such is the standpoint of some modern schools of philosophy which consider freedom to be the essence of man’s human identity. These schools of thought equate man’s human identity with his capacity to rebel and disobey every form of servitude and to assert his absolute freedom. Accordingly, every manner of bondage, confinement, and submission is, according to them, inconsistent with man’s real identity and leads to self alienation.

They say that man realizes his true humanity only by refusing to submit and surrender. It is characteristic of attachment that the object of love absorbs man’s attention and compromises his self-awareness. This results in his forgetting his own self and, subsequently, this aware and free being called man, whose identity is summarized in his awareness and freedom, becomes a slavish creature devoid of freedom and self-awareness. In forgetting his own identity, man also becomes oblivious of his human values. In this state of bondage and servitude he ceases to progress and edify his self and becomes stagnant and frozen at some point. If Islam’s philosophy of struggle against worldliness aims at theresurrection of human identity and personality, it should oppose every form of servitude and liberate man from every form of bondage. This, however, is not the case, for Islam, undeniably, advocates liberation from material for the sake of spiritual servitude. Freedom from the world is acquired for the sake of the fetters of the Hereafter and the apple is renounced for the sake of the Master.

The Aurafa who advise absolute freedom from attachments, however, do allow an exception. Hafiz says the following:

I am the slave of the magnanimity of him

Who is free of the taint of attachment to anything under the blue sky

Except the love of the moon-cheeked one,

The joy of whose love redeems all sorrows and woes.

Openly do I declare, and am delighted to proclaim,

I am the slave of Love and free from both the worlds.

Except for the Beloved A s Name inscribed on the slate of my heart,

The teacher did not teach me another word.

From the viewpoint of Airfan , one must be free of both the worlds but should surrender totally to love. As Hafiz says, the tablet of the heart must be clean of every name except that of the Beloved. The heart should be cleansed of every attachment except the love of A the moon-cheeked one’, that is Allah, whose love brings redemption from all sorrows and woes.

However, from the viewpoint of the so-called humanistic philosophy freedom of the Aarif , being only relative, does not take us anywhere, because it is freedom from everything for total surrender and servitude to one being, whatever that may be. Servitude is after all servitude and bondage is bondage, regardless of the agent towards which it is directed.

This is the objection raised by the followers of modern humanistic philosophies. In order that the issues involved may be further illuminated, we are compelled to refer to certain philosophical issues.

First of all, one may point out that to assume that there exists a kind of human selfhood and identity and to insist that this identity should be safeguarded, in itself amounts to the negation of movement, progress and development of this selfhood, because, motion and change necessarily result in alienation from this selfhood. This is because movement means becoming: that is, becoming something one is not; it implies continuous transcendence of selfhood and embracing of otherness. Obviously, if we accept this view, it is only by the means of immobility and stagnation that one can preserve his identity; for development necessitates self-alienation. For this reason, some ancient philosophers defined motion in terms of otherness and self-estrangement. Accordingly, to assume that there exists a certain kind of human A self and to insist that this self should be safeguarded and protected from becoming A non-self, and to speak of movement, progress, and evolution in the same breath, involves an unresolvable contradiction

Some, in order to free themselves from this contradiction, have said that man’s identity lies in being devoid of any kind of A self whatsoever. Man, they say, is a creature absolutely undefined in his essence and free from any kind of limit, form, or essence. His essence lies in his being without any defined essence. Man is a creature devoid of a fixed nature and essential necessity. Any attempt to define, limit and confine him amounts to depriving him of his real self and identity.

Such a view may be aptly considered poetry and flight of imagination rather than a philosophy. The absolute absence of a fixed form and essence is possible in one of the two cases: Firstly, such a being should possess infinite perfection and pure and unlimited actuality; that is, it should be a being unlimited and unconfined, encompassing all times and places and predominant over all existents, such as the Being of the Creator. For such a being, movement and growth are impossible; because motion and development involve overcoming of defects and imperfections, whereas such a being cannot possibly be supposed to possess any imperfection. Secondly, it may apply to a being devoid of every kind of actuality and merit. That is, it should be pure possibility and sheer potentiality, a neighbour of nothingness, existing only on theremotest frontiers of existence. It should be devoid of any innate reality and essence though capable of assuming any form or essence Such a being, which itself absolutely undefined, is always associated with a definite being; though shapeless and colourless in itself, it exists in the protective shadow of a being possessing form, shape and colour. Such a being is what the philosophers call A the primal matter. It occupies the lowest status in the hierarchy of existence and stands on the extremity of being, even as the Divine Essence, being absolute perfection, stands on the other extremity of existence-with the difference that the extremity occupied by the Divine Essence circumscribes all the contents of being. Man, like all other creatures, is situated somewhere between these two extremes and so cannot possibly lack any defined essence. Admittedly, he is different from other creatures, but, unlike them, there is no limit to his movement towards perfection. Whereas other creatures remain confined to certain definite limits which they cannot transcend, there is no end to the possibilities of human development.

Man possesses a special kind of being. But contrary to the view of the philosophers who believe in the precedence of essence and reduce the being of everything to its quiddity, and who deny the possibility of transcendence and essential change as being self-contradictory, and consider all changes to occur at the level of accidents, the existential nature of man, like that of any other material thing, is fluid, with the difference that its movement and fluidity know no final limits.

Some commentators of the Holy Qur’an, in their explanations of the verse: AO people of Yathrib, there is no abiding here for you (33:13), have generalized it to cover all humanity. They hold that man is a creature which does not move to a certain and definite stage or halt; the further he moves the greater are the possibilities open to him. Here we do not wish to indulge in discussing the legitimacy of imposing such interpretations on Holy Qur’anic verses; we only intend to show that Muslim scholars have thought about man in such terms.

In thehadith about the Prophet’s Ascension (al-mi’raj ), Gabriel who accompanies the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household) , at a certain point, gives up his journey declaring: A I will get burnt if I move an inch further, while the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  leaves him behind and moves further. This is an allusion to the truth mentioned above.

Also, as we know, there is a debate among Muslim scholars about thesalawat (Benedictions) upon the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  andAhl al-Bayt , which we make as a prayer to Allah to shower greater blessings upon them. Now the debate is whether thesalawat is of any benefit to the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household) , who is the most perfect man. In other words, is there any possibility of ascension in the Prophet’s station? Or does thesalawat benefit only the person who pronounces it and beseeches Allah to bless the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household) , a favor that has already been granted?

The late Sayyid Ali (A.S)  Khan opened this debate in his commentary onal-Sahifat Al-Kamilah . A group of theologians believe that the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  is always ascending and climbing higher in his station, and this movement is never halted.

Yes, such is the station of man. That which makes man such is not the absolute absence of a defined essence but a certain kind of essence which is ordinarily referred to as A human nature and other similar expressions.

Man does not have any ultimate limits but he has a path. The Holy Qur’an lays great emphasis on what it calls the Straight Path, which is an unambiguous path before man. Man is not constrained by stages so as to be forced to stop at every stage in his journey. Instead there is an orbit in which he should move. This is the orbit of human perfection which is different from those of the animals. This means the movement in a specified orbit, a movement which is orderly not haphazard.

The Existentialist Viewpoint

Existentialism has been rightly criticized for its refusal to acknowledge any kind of determination or definition of the human nature, for its considering every determination (even in the form of path or orbit) as contrary to his humanity, and for its emphasis on his absolute freedom and capacity for rebellion; for this philosophy necessarily leads to the breakdown of social morality and the negation of the individual’s commitments and responsibilities.

Does Evolution Involve Self-Ali (A.S)  enation?

Now returning to what we said earlier, does movement and evolution necessitate alienation from one’s self? Should every being, in order to remain itself, abstain from change and evolution? Does it mean that either man should retain his human identity or, if he chooses an evolutionary course, become something alien to his essence?

The answer is that the true evolution of anything is a movement towards the perfect state which conforms to its nature. In other words, the transformations during movement on the straight path of nature by no means necessitate any loss of specific identity.

That which constitutes thereal self of a being is its existence, not its essence. Accordingly, any change in essence does not imply mutation of the A self’ into a A non-self. Mulla Sadra, who is the champion of this philosophy, holds that man does not have any definite essence; rather every developing being passing through the stages of its evolution is not a single species but a plurality of species. The relation of an imperfect being with its ultimate stage of perfection is not a relation of otherness; rather it is a relation of the thing to itself. It is therelation of an imperfect self to the perfect self. A thing while evolving toward its perfect state is in movement from its self to its self. In a sense, it can be said to be in movement from the non-self towards its true self. A seed that breaks the ground and sprouts leaves, and sends out branches and flowers, does not move from Theself to the non-self. If it were aware of itself and aware of its ultimate evolution, it would not feel self alienated.

That is why the love of true perfection is the love of a higher self, and a praiseworthy love is in itself a desirable and praiseworthy egotism or self-love. Sheikh al- A Ishraq Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi has an elegant ruba’i on this subject:

Beware lest you lose the wisdom A s thread,

And lose your self for the sake of water and bread.

You are the traveller, the way, the destination,

Beware lest you lose the path from Theself to Theself.

On the basis of what has been said it can be surmised that there is a great difference between desiring Allah, the movement towards Allah, the love of Allah, the attachment and Theservitude to Allah and submission to Him, and the love, the submission, and Theservitude to other things. The servitude to Allah is freedom itself. It is the only relation and tie which does not stagnate the human personality or make it inert and immobile. It is the only kind of worship which does not imply self-forgetfulness and self-alienation. Why? Because He is the Absolute Perfection and the Ultimate Goal and the Destination of all existents: AAnd unto thy Master will be the end of all things (53:42).

Now we have reached a point from where we can proceed to explain the position of the Holy Qur’an that forgetting Allah is forgetting one’s own self and Theseparation from Allah is absolute annihilation.

Forgetting and Losing Theself

I remember that about eighteen years ago while discussing the exegesis of certain verses of the Holy Qur’an in a private gathering, for the first time the point struck me that the Holy Qur’an very often employs typical expressions about a certain group of human beings, such as those who A lose, A forget, or A sell their selves. For instance, it says the following:

They have indeed lost their selves, and that which they were forging has gone astray from them. (7:53)Say: A Surely the losers are they who lose their selves and their families on the Day of Resurrection (39:15)Be not as those who forgot Allah, and so He caused them to forget their selves; those-they are the ungodly . (59:19)

The question might occur to a mind with a philosophic bent. Is it possible for a man to lose his self? the loss of anything necessitates two things: the loser and the thing lost. Now how is it possible for a human being to lose its self? Is it not self-contradictory?

Likewise, is it possible for a man to forget himself? A living human being is always immersed in itself and perceives everything as something other and additional to its own self; its attention is, before everything else, focussed on itself. Then what is meant by forgetting one’s self?

Later I realized that this matter occupies a significant place in Islamic teachings, especially in the prayers and some traditions as well as in the writings of Muslim Aurafa . It shows that often man mistakes A non-self’ as his self, regards that non-self as his real self. Then imagining the non-self to be his self, he treats the non-self and takes care of it as he would have treated and cared for his true self. The true self, as a result, falls into neglect and oblivion, and occasionally under goes a metamorphosis. For instance, when man imagines his body to represent his total entity, all his endeavour revolves about his body, it means that he has forgotten his self conceiving the non-self to be his real self. Such a man, in the words of Rumi, is like the one who owns a piece of land somewhere; he carries building materials and hires masons and workers to build a house for him; after much toil, the house is made ready for living; the doors and windows are painted, the floor is carpeted, curtains are hung and the house is furnished beautifully in every way; however, one day when he prepares to move into the new house, all of a sudden he realizes his mistake; to his dismay, he notes that instead of erecting the house on his own land, he has constructed it on a land that belongs to somebody else, while his own plot lies abandoned elsewhere:

Don A t build your house on the land of another,

Work for your own self and toil not for the stranger.

Who is the stranger except your own earthen frame?

On whose account are all your sorrows and woes?

So long as you nurse and pamper your body,

The soul would not prosper, nor would it become sturdy.

At another place Rumi says the following:

You, who have lost your self in a losing encounter,

Distinguishing not the other from your own true self;

At every shadow you are quick to exclaim,

A Ah! This is me! By Allah it is not you!

Isolate yourself for a while from the crowd,

And immerse yourself to the neck in thought.

Indeed you shall find that you are one with the One,

Beautiful, serene, and blessed is your self.

Amir al-Mu’minin Ali (A.S)  has a saying in this regard which is as profound as it is elegant:

I wonder at the man who searches for his lost things but doesn’t care to recover his lost self. [8]

Losing oneself and forgetting oneself is not confined to man’s error in recognizing his true identity and essence-such as the ordinary man’s self-identification with the body, or the Aarif ’s occasional identification of himself with hisbarzakhi body. We have said in the last chapter that actually every being in the natural course of its development moves from Theself to Theself; that is, it moves from a lower, weaker self to a self which is powerful and higher. Accordingly, the deviation of every existent from the path of its perfection and development is deviation from Theself towards the non-self. Man, more than any other creature, being endowed with a free will and freedom of choice, is subject to this deviation. By choosing a deviant objective as ultimate for himself, in reality he replaces his true self with the non-self, mistaking the non-self to be Theself. It is on this basis that the human being’s total immersion in material aspects of life has been regarded as condemnable.

Therefore, the adoption of devious goals and ends is one of the factors of self-alienation that leads man to forget his true self and finally to lose it.

Devious goals and objectives not only result in the disease of self loss; they lead ultimately to the metamorphosis of man’s human essence, a metamorphosis that is determined by that particular devious goal. A significant part of Islamic teachings is devoted to drive home the point that on the Day of Resurrection every human being shall be raised with the object of his love. Our traditions declare unequivocally:

Everyone, on the Day of Judgment shall be raised in the company of his object of love, whatever that should be, even if it is a stone. [9]

With attention to the indubitable and unequivocal Islamic teaching that on the Day of Judgment man would be raised in the form of what he acquired in this world, it becomes clear that thereason for a person’s resurrection together with the objects of his love is that the love and attachment for that object make it the ultimate goal of the path of his becoming. However devious that objective may be, it causes the soul and the inner reality of a person to transform into that object.

This subject has been given great attention by Muslim sages and philosophers, who have made great many interesting observations in this regard. For brevity’s sake, we shall quote only one ruba’i on this topic: Theseeker of a mine of diamonds is himself a mine; Theseeker of the spirit is himself the spirit; I will divulge Thesecret of this matter: You are whatever you seek, you are the object of your quest.

The Discovery of Theself and of Allah

Therediscovery of Theself, in addition to the above two, requires to fulfill one more condition, and that is therealization and knowledge of the Cause of one’s creation and existence. That is, it is impossible for man to recognize himself and know himself by viewing himself in separation from the Cause of his creation. The real Cause of every existent is prior to it and nearer to it than it is to itself:

And We are nearer to him than his jugular vein . (50:16)And know that Allah stands between a man and his heart. (8:24)

The Muslim mystics have laid great emphasis on the point that the knowledge of Theself (ma’rifat al-nafs ) and the knowledge of Allah (ma’rifat Allah ) are not separate from one another. To experience the spirit, which according to the Holy Qur’an is Allah’s A breath’, is, to experience the Divine Essence. The Muslim mystics have raised severe objections against the statements of Muslim philosophers regarding the problem of self-knowledge and consider them to be inadequate.

Sheikh Mahmud al-Shabistari was sent a series of versified questions by someone from Khurasan. His poemGulshan-e raz is thereply he gave to the questions. In one of the questions, the enquirer asks:

Who am I?

Inform me about my self.

What is meant by A Journey within thy self?

The Sheikh’s reply is elaborate. There he says the following:

Forms and spirits, from the same light are derived,

Reflected of mirror or beaming from the lamp.

I’ the word is everywhere in all your speech.

It refers to the soul, the spirit. A I’ and A You A ,

are greater than the body and the spirit,

Which are together parts of Theself.

Go then, my good man, first know well your self,

And remember: edema is different from robustness. [10]

Leave one of them to soar over the undulations of space and time,

Abandon the world to become a world in yourself.

A further elaboration of this theme will take us outside the scope of our present discussion. To be brief, it should be said that the gnosis of Theself is inseparable from that of Allah. This is exactly the meaning of the famous saying of the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household) , and the same theme recurs in therecorded statements of Imam Ali (A.S)  : A He who knows his own self knows his Master.

InNahjul-Balagha it is reported that Imam Ali (A.S)  was asked by somebody: A Have you seen your Allah? Ali (A.S)  replied: A Would I worship what I have not seen? Then he elaborated his answer thus:

He is not visible to the eyes but the hearts perceive Him through (the factual experience of) faith (iman ). [11]

An interesting point that is implicit in the statements of the Holy Qur’an is that man is in possession of himself as long as he A possesses’ Allah. Only through the remembrance of Allah does he remember his self and become fully aware of it, and to forget Allah is to neglect one’s own self. Forgetting Allah is accompanied by self-forgetfulness:

Be not as those who forgot Allah, and so He caused them to forget their selves. (59:19)

Rumi, following his verses quoted above, says the following:

Even if the body should lie amidst fragrance and musk,

On death it will petrify and give out its stink.

So scent not the body, but perfume the soul with musk,

What is that musk except the Name of the Glorious Master ?

Hafiz says the following:

Hafiz, if you desire presence,

Do not be absent from Him.

If you desire His rendezuous,

abandon the world and forget it.

This shows why the remembrance of Allah is essential for the life of the heart; it awakens and illumines the heart and gives peace to the soul; it revives, purifies, refines, and humbles the human conscience and fills it with delight. How profound and beautiful are Ali’s words inNahjul-Balagha where he says the following:

Certainly Allah Almighty has made His remembrance a means for cleaning and polishing the hearts. It makes them hear after deafness, see after blindness, and makes them submissive to guidance after being stubborn and resisting. In all periods and times when there were no prophets, there were individuals to whom He whispered through their thoughts and spoke to them through their intellects. As a result they were enlightened with a light awakening their hearts, their vision and their hearing. [12]

Worship and therediscovery of Theself

There is so much that can be said about worship that if we were to be elaborate we would have to devote scores of chapters to this subject. Here we shall make a brief reference to the value of worship in therediscovery of Theself.

As much as the bondage to material matters and immersion in them severs man from his true self and induces self-alienation, worship helps him in recovering his own self. Worship awakens and arouses man from his spiritual slumber. It rescues him from drowning in Thesea of self-neglect and forgetfulness and saves his identity from being lapsed in the world of material things. It is in the mirror of worship and Allah’s remembrance that man can observe himself as he really is and become aware of his failings and faults. It is in worship that he acquires the true perspective of being, life, space and time, like watching a city from a high mountain, and perceives the insignificance, pettiness and abjectness of his materialistic hopes, desires, and ambitions. It is in worship that a yearning is awakened in his heart to attain to the very core of being.

I have always marvelled at the following words of the famous scientist of our age, Albert Einstein. What adds to my amazement is that he was a physicist and a mathematician, not a psychologist, theologian or philosopher. After dividing religion into three stages, he calls the third stage of religious experience as the one arising from A cosmic religious feeling. He describes this religious experience in these words:

The individual feels the futility of human desires and aims, and the sublimity and marvellous order which reveal themselves both in nature and in the world of thought. Individual existence impresses him as a sort of prison and he wants to experience the universe as a single significant whole.[13]

William James, writing about prayer, says the following:

The impulse to pray is a necessary consequence of the fact that whilst the innermost of the empirical selves of a man is a self of the social sort it yet can find its only adequate socius (its A great companion) in an ideal world. Most men, either continually or occasionally, carry a reference to it in their breasts. The humblest outcast on this earth can feel himself to be real and valid by means of this higher recognition. [14]

Iqbal also has something profound to say about worship and prayer and their value for therediscovery of Theself. He writes:

Prayer as a means of spiritual illumination is a normal vital act by which the island of our personality suddenly discovers its situation in a larger whole of life. [15]

We conclude our discussion of this extensive subject right here.

Some Relevant Issues

Now that our discussion about the concept of the world inNahjul-Balagha is nearing its conclusion, I want to clarif y some issues with attention to the principles discussed above.

Life in this World versus the Hereafter

Some Islamic traditions seem to imply that there exists a kind of conflict between the world and the Hereafter. For instance, it is stated that they are like A two rival wives’ who can never be reconciled, or it is said that they are like the East and the West: one cannot approach any one of them without moving farther from the other. How should one interpret these statements in order to reconcile them with what has been said above?

The answer is that, firstly, as has been expressly stated in most Islamic traditions, a reconciliation between winning the world and the Hereafter is not only possible but is a necessity of the Islamic creed. That which is impossible is their reconciliation as ultimate ends and goals.

The enjoyment of the good things of the world does not necessarily require deprivation from the blessings of the next world. That which deprives one of therewards of the next life is a series of mortal sins, not the enjoyment of a wholesome, comfortable life and the availing of pure and lawful bounties provided by Allah. Similarly, that which leads to deprivation in the world is nottaqwa or righteous deeds or the endeavour for the Hereafter; a number of other factors are responsible for it.

Many prophets, Imams, and pious believers, whose virtuousness and piety are indubitable, have been among those who benefited greatly from the legitimate bounties of the world. Accordingly, even if it be assumed that thereligious texts do imply irreconcilability between the enjoyment of the world and that of the Hereafter, they would not be acceptable because of the incontrovertible evidence to the contrary.

Secondly, if we scrutinize such traditions closely, an interesting point comes to the surface in whose light we observe no contradiction between them and the incontrovertible principles of Islam. But before that this point may be explained, we should examine three possible relationships between the world and the Hereafter:

Therelation between enjoyment of the good things of the world and enjoyment of therewards of the Hereafter.

Therelation between the world as the ultimate goal and the Hereafter as such.

Therelation between adoption of one of these as the ultimate goal with the enjoyment of the other.

There is no conflict whatsoever involved in the first case. Accordingly a reconciliation between the two is quite possible. The second case, however, involves a contradiction; for there is no possibility of reconciling these two opposite goals.

As to the third, it involves in turn two cases: first, the adoption of the world as the ultimate end and the enjoyment of the Hereafter; second, the adoption of the Hereafter as the ultimate goal and the enjoyment of the world. The first case involves a contradiction, whereas The second doesn’t.

The Primary and The secondary

The conflict between the adoption of either the world or the Hereafter as ultimate ends and the enjoyment of the other is the kind that exists between a perfect and an imperfect end. If the imperfect is made the ultimate goal, the perfect is necessarily missed; whereas if the perfect were one’s end and goal, it would not necessarily preclude the imperfect. The same is true of anything primary in relation to its secondaries. If something secondary were made the aim, it would result in deprivation from the primary. But if the primary is made the aim and goal, The secondary, being a corollary of the primary, is automatically included. This is most eloquently explained inHikma 269 ofNahjul-Balagha :

There are two types of workers among the people of the world: (One type is represented by) the man who works in this world for this world and his involvement in the world makes him forget the Hereafter. He is worried about those whom he shall leave behind (on death) lest poverty should strike them as if he were himself secure of it (in the Hereafter). So he spends his life for the (worldly) benefit of others. The other type of man works in the world for the sake of the Hereafter and secures his share of the world effortlessly. Thus he derives benefit from the both and comes to possess both the worlds. As a result he acquires honor before Allah, Who grants him whatever he asks of Him.

Rumi offers an interesting allegory. He compares the Hereafter and the world to a train of camels and the trail of dung that it leaves behind. If one’s aim were to own the train of camels he would also have the camels’ dung and wool. But if one wants only the dung and the wool, he will never come to acquire the train of camels and will always be collecting dung and wool of camels which belong to others.

Hanker you after faith for its pursuit yields

Beauty, wealth, honor, and good fortune.

Consider the Hereafter as a camel train;

The world is a trail of wool and dung in its rear.

If you want only the wool, you will never the camels own;

Yet if you own a camel train, isn A t its wool your own ?

That therelation of the world to the Hereafter is like that of a secondary thing to its primary; that worldliness, being a pursuit of The secondary, leads to deprivation from the benefits of the Hereafter; and that other worldliness by itself ensures the benefits of the world, is a teaching that originates in the Holy Qur’an. Verses 145-148 of the Suratal- A Imran expressly, and verses 18 and 19 of the Suratal- A Isra’ together with verse 20 of the Suratal-Shura implicitly present this view.

A Tradition

There is a well-known tradition found in the texts ofhadith as well as other books and is also mentioned in the last will of al- A Imam al-Hasan al-Mujtaba (–). This is the text of the tradition:

In regard to the world be as if you were going to live for ever. With respect to the Hereafter be as if you were going to die tomorrow. [16]

This tradition has been highly controversial in that it has led to contradictory interpretations. Some interpret it as implying that one should deal with worldly matters with relaxed inattention and without hurry. Whenever one is faced with an affair of worldly life, one should say to himself A There is still a lot of time, why hurry? But when performing good deeds for the Hereafter, one should imagine as if he were not going to be alive after tomorrow and say to himself: A There isn’t much time left; it is already too late.

Others with the conviction that Islam would never recommend negligence and carelessness, which certainly has not been the practice of the leaders of the faith, have said that what is implied is that one should always approach the worldly affairs as if he were immortal, attend to them with attention and care, and not perform them in a perfunctory manner with the pretext that life is fleeting. Rather, they say, the works of the world should be done with firmness and great foresight and attention, as if one were going to live till the end of the world. The rationale for this is that if one were to die, others will derive benefit from one’s works. The affairs of the Hereafter, however, are in Allah’s hand; so think of them as if you were going to die tomorrow and there is not much time left for anything.

As can be noticed, the first one of these two interpretations recommends negligence and lack of commitment towards the affairs of the world, whereas The second one advises a similar attitude towards the Hereafter. Obviously, none of these two interpretations can be regarded as acceptable.

In our opinion, this, one of the most subtle of traditions, consists of an invitation to action, care, and attention and avoidance of negligence and indifference, whether with respect to the worldly activities or those which relate to the Hereafter.

Suppose a person living in a house knows that sooner or later he will have to move to another house where he will stay permanently. However, he does not know the day, the month or the year when he shall have to make the shift. Such a man is in a state of dilemma with regard to matters relating to his present home and his plans about his future house. If he knows that he will move tomorrow, he would not pay any attention to therepairs and upkeep of his present house, and attend only to matters concerning the planned Shift. But if he knows that he would not be shifting his residence for several years, he will act in an opposite manner; presently he will devote all his attention to the present house, knowing that there is much time left to deal with those relating to his future residence.

Now this person, in a state of doubt about the exact date of the shift, not knowing whether he will have to shift in near future or remain in his present house for years, meets a friend who wisely advises him to attend to the affairs of his present house as if he were to continue living there for a long time and not to neglect its upkeep. As to the other house, the wise friend advises him to get it ready as if he were going to move tomorrow and have it furnished as soon as possible. This advice will have the consequence that it will make him adopt a serious and active attitude towards both his houses.

Suppose someone wants to start a work, like writing a book or founding an institution or taking up a project which requires years of pursuit. If such a person thinks that he will not live long enough to finish his work, he might desist from starting it. That is why it is said that one must think that he will live for long. But the same person, from the point of view of repenting for his sins and compensating for the past excesses with regard to religious duties or the rights of the people he has transgressed-all of which require little time for their accomplishment given the will to do so-may keep on postponing them every day so that the promised tomorrow may never come.In such cases, contrary to the first kind of attitude, to assume that one has still enough time and there is no reason to hasten, would result in negligence and delay in fulfillment of one’s duties. Therefore, here one should assume that there isn’t much time left.

Therefore, we see that in one case to assume that one has enough time encourages action and endeavour and the assumption that there is no time left would lead one to abstain from action and endeavour. In the other case, theresult is quite the opposite. Here, the assumption that one has still a lot of time leads to negligence and procastination, and the assumption that there isn’t much time left leads to quick accomplishment of duties.

In the light of this, thehadith means to say that with regard to one kind of duties one should assume that he is going to live on and with respect to another kind suppose that not much remains of his life.

This interpretation is not baseless. There are several traditions which confirm the above interpretation. The reason that this tradition gave rise to controversy is that attention was not paid to such traditions.

Safinat al-bihar , underrifq , relates a tradition of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  addressed to Jabir:

Indeed this (i.e. Islam) is a firm religion. So (do not make it hard on yourself but) act in it with mildness. Cultivate like him who thinks he will never die and work (for the hereafter) like him who is afraid he will die tomorrow.

In volume XV ofBihar al- A anwar (Thesection onakhlaq , Bab 29), it is related fromAl-Kafi that the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  addressed Ali (A.S) , saying:

This (Islam) is a firm religion. So work like him who hopes to live for long and be cautious like him who is afraid that he would die tomorrow. That is, when commencing a useful project that requires a long time for its completion, assume that you will live long enough to complete it. However, with regard to matters which you might postpone thinking that you have enough time to handle them, assume that you shall die tomorrow, so that time is not wasted and delay is avoided.

InNahjul-Balagha , it is related from the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  that he said:

Attend to the affairs of the world; but with respect to the Hereafter be such as if you were going to die tomorrow.

In the same book, the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  is related as saying:

Work like the man who imagines that he will never die; and be cautious like him who knows he is going to die tomorrow.

In another tradition the Prophet (P.B.U.H. and His Household)  is reported to have said:

The mu’min is the most vexed of men, for he must attend to the affairs of the world as well as those of the Hereafter.

InSafinat al-bihar , under nafs, ahadith of al- A Imam Musa al-Kazim (–) is related fromTuhaf al- A uqul to the effect that:

He who abandons the world for his Hereafter or abandons his Hereafter for his world is not from us.

The above discussion on the whole confirms our interpretation of thehadith and also shows that this approach finds recurring echo in the teachings of the leaders of the Islamic faith.

Concluded; walhamdu lillah.