بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Bismillah-ir-Rahmaan ar-Raheem
We went through Imam Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi's this book and found it to be a great treasure. Indeed his biography and the introduction in this publish by Dr. Muhammad Abu Layla (TA-HA Publishers) was beneficial and informative. What follows is short, but we wished to share. We thank the brothers of Islamic society at Nottingham University (Malaysia) to let me make us of it.
Contents:
Selections from chapter I of In Pursuit of Virtue:
Reading all fields vs. specializing in one:
Determination:
Determination:
Speaking skills:
Selections from chapter II of In Pursuit of Virtue:
War:
Lies and Liars:
Lies and Liars:
Promoting the good and condemning the bad:
Envy:
Envy:
Selections from chapter III of In Pursuit of Virtue:
Disillusion-ary world :
Arabic metaphor's:
Selections from Ibn Hazm's book:
Pride:
Happiness:
Knowledge:
Train Yourself:
Introvert vs. Extrovert:
Do not Postpone or belittle:Deceiver:
Intoxication:
Friendship:
Practical Morality:
Self Help for the corrupt:
Reality of oppression:
Show-off:
Patience:
Search for repute and popularity:
Dua:
Happiness:
Knowledge:
Train Yourself:
Introvert vs. Extrovert:
Do not Postpone or belittle:Deceiver:
Intoxication:
Friendship:
Practical Morality:
Self Help for the corrupt:
Reality of oppression:
Show-off:
Patience:
Search for repute and popularity:
Dua:
- Reading all fields vs. specializing in one:
In Ibn Hazm's view, every person should study that subject for which he has a natural inclination. He says, for example: "Anyone who has a natural inclination towards a branch of knowledge, even if it is inferior to other branches of knowledge, should not abandon it, or he would resemble someone who plants coconuts in Andalusia or olive trees in India, where they would give no fruit." [page 25]
- Determination:
Here we give one more example of Ibn Hazm's debate, but this time with a fellow Muslim scholar. Once Ibn Hazm debated with a poor jurist, Sulayman ibn Khalaf al-Baji (d.474 AH; 1081 AD), and he won the argument. The poor jurist began to excuse himself, saying, "I had to study at night, reading by the light of the lamp of the market-guards." Ibn Hazm replied, "I was disadvantaged too; I had to read from gold and silver discs, resting on footstools." The point he was making is that the possession of wealth may be as much a hindrance as poverty is. [page 42]
- Speaking skills:
In this context a speaker should not repeat himself again and again. Once Ibn al-Sammak asked his slave-girl (who had been listening to him) "What do you think of my speech?" She said, "It would be more beautiful if you did not repeat yourself." He said, "I say things so that everyone will understand." The slave-girl said, "Before the people who haven't understood understand it, the ones who did understand will be bored." [page 44]
- War:
It is interesting to point out that in an ancient Arab poem ascribed to Imru' al-Qays a war before it starts is compared with a young girl decked in ornaments who attracts the young and the inexperienced. But when fighting rages and burns over the country, it is like an old woman no longer capable of attracting admirers; her hair is thin and all her beauty has gone and she inspires no one by her odour to kiss her or embrace her. [page 51]
- Lies and liars:
Telling lies is that Ibn Hazm most abhors. It is the source of disbelief in God himself. It is the fountainhead of other vices and sicknesses. Here Ibn Hazm does not tell us specifically about the cause of lying and the purpose of the liar. However, his phrase "the liar's psyche is valueless" may reflect the liar's impulses and imply that his lying is an attempt to dispel the humiliation of his self, a fruitless attempt to build up his own ego. The liar believes that by telling lies he may justify his own existence and bring benefit to his soul.
The Qur'an mentions some matters related to the telling of lies such as arrogance, confusion, embellishment of the truth, perjury and false oaths, gossiping, backbiting, sowing dissension. The liar is psychologically weak and tries to appear otherwise. The liar change the true facts, he can only confuse people about them and try to prevent them from obtaining them. The Qur'an compares the effect of telling lies with a layer of tar covering the heart and the mind, and in the Hadith the telling of a lie starts like one drop of black ink which then spreads and grows until it covers everything. Thus a liar deserves eternal punishment.
Telling iles is a sickness which has no medicine. It leads to all vices and inhibits all virtues. The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, commands us not to talk too much because it can lead to nonsense and lying. The sharpest weapon held by the liar is his tongue. [page 87]
- Promoting the good and condemning the bad:
Ibn Hazm makes an impassioned plea for the retention of "promoting the good and condemning the bad". Through this we can purify ourselves and our society of all kinds of diseases. He warns against abandoning of this institution. someone may say, "I am not perfect myself so I cannot advise anyone about morality." Ibn Hazm sees this as a dangerous and misleading notion. Satan would be happy if everyone thought like this, since nobody is perfect, nobody is without blemish, and that would leave nobody to preach and society would collapse into vice. We may compare it with a society suffering from plague. Physicians suffer along with their patients but they continue to attempt to treat them. Infact, Islam does not compromise on the principle of "promoting the good and condemning the bad", because it is important to correct ourselves and others, without criticising them unkindly. no one can change without advice and encouragement. Without any criticism they would preserve in wrong doing and entice others to follow their bad example. Criticism should be wise and well-intentioned. [page 89]
- Envy:
It is said that envy was the first sin committed in heaven when Satan envied Adam. It was the first sin committed on earth when Cain envied Abel and killed him.
Yahya Ibn Khalid says that an envious person is a mean enemy who cannot fulfill his wicked desire except by wishing harm on others. Al-Ahnaf ibn Qays says that a bored person can never relax, the miser has no nobility , and the corrupt person has no dignity. [page 90]
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Ibn Hazm himself like all great scholars in history, suffered from envy and thus was subjected to many accusations and severe attacks; his biographer and rival Ibn Hayyan was quite aware of this fact.
Within the same context it is interesting to refer to al-Jahiz who was greatly affected by and concerned about envy. Al-Jahiz attacked envy and particularly criticized people who claimed to be scholars without justification. They mimicked the gestures, attitudes, tones and costume of real scholars, hoping to be taken for them. These false scholars won the hearts of credulous public and ignorant rulers. The enemies of the real scholars use the pseudo-scholars as a means of attacking them. The false scholars attack, taking their strength from the ignorance of the public and the king's desire not to change his ways.
Again, the false scholars like to occupy high positions and to have power over the people. The love of power always brings ruin, at every time and in every society. No one is safe from this human inclination.
Al-Jahiz himself suffered from envy, to the extent that he would sometimes publish his books anonymously so that he could have a fairer hearing.
In the view of al-Jahiz, dislike may pass away but envy never. You can share your possessions and thereby win your enemies over as friends, but the envious would only be content with all your possessions. Every religion attacks envy and calls on people to avoid being envious. The envious man can be recognized by his facial expression, particularly his eyes when they see the object of his envy. [page 93]
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The cure for envy is to imagine that the object of one's envy lies far away, perhaps in China or India, and is of no concern to oneself.
Envy occurs frequently between neighbours, acquaintances and relations. We find that when a new ruler comes from outside, the people feel no envy, but they do if one rises to power from their own number. The reason is the people's self-interest and egotism and desire to rank higher than the others in achieving power or other things. When they see someone rise to power who was like themselves the day before, they became sorrowful and are dissatisfied with him as a ruler, however well he treats them. They strive constantly to unseat him from the position that they wanted for themselves. However, if a stranger comes who history is unknown to them, they do not have these feeling towards him. The envious person does not behave fairly towards the object of his envy because the latter does not hinder him in any way. The good fortune which fell to the envied person was not observed by the envious one and would not have fallen to his lot.
In fact, the envious are often lazy and have not made the effort to achieve the heights that they now see another take into possession. There is no pleasure in envy except maybe a very slight pleasure. It harms soul and body; it occupies the soul when it could have been engaged in fruitful contemplation; it bring no profit to the body, only sadness, sorrow, anxiety, insomnia and grudging anger. It takes away one's appetite, one's complexion grows pale, one's features become ugly, one's mood become sour. [page 94]
Again, the false scholars like to occupy high positions and to have power over the people. The love of power always brings ruin, at every time and in every society. No one is safe from this human inclination.
Al-Jahiz himself suffered from envy, to the extent that he would sometimes publish his books anonymously so that he could have a fairer hearing.
In the view of al-Jahiz, dislike may pass away but envy never. You can share your possessions and thereby win your enemies over as friends, but the envious would only be content with all your possessions. Every religion attacks envy and calls on people to avoid being envious. The envious man can be recognized by his facial expression, particularly his eyes when they see the object of his envy. [page 93]
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The cure for envy is to imagine that the object of one's envy lies far away, perhaps in China or India, and is of no concern to oneself.
Envy occurs frequently between neighbours, acquaintances and relations. We find that when a new ruler comes from outside, the people feel no envy, but they do if one rises to power from their own number. The reason is the people's self-interest and egotism and desire to rank higher than the others in achieving power or other things. When they see someone rise to power who was like themselves the day before, they became sorrowful and are dissatisfied with him as a ruler, however well he treats them. They strive constantly to unseat him from the position that they wanted for themselves. However, if a stranger comes who history is unknown to them, they do not have these feeling towards him. The envious person does not behave fairly towards the object of his envy because the latter does not hinder him in any way. The good fortune which fell to the envied person was not observed by the envious one and would not have fallen to his lot.
In fact, the envious are often lazy and have not made the effort to achieve the heights that they now see another take into possession. There is no pleasure in envy except maybe a very slight pleasure. It harms soul and body; it occupies the soul when it could have been engaged in fruitful contemplation; it bring no profit to the body, only sadness, sorrow, anxiety, insomnia and grudging anger. It takes away one's appetite, one's complexion grows pale, one's features become ugly, one's mood become sour. [page 94]
- Disillusion-ary world :
Ibn Hazm's statement concerning the worthlessness of material things reminds us of Ali Ibn Abu Talib 9who is called Maskawiyh "the philosopher of Islam"). Ibn Abu talib said to Ammar, when he found him deeply sighing, "Oh Ammar, why do you sigh? Do you sigh for the hereafter or for this world? By Allah I swear that this world is not worth sighing for, because its pleasures are of five kinds, food, drink, sexual intercourse, clothes and perfumes. The best of all drinks is honey and it comes from bee, an insect. The best of all drinks is water, and it is most freely available. The best of all clothing is silk, and it comes from the mouth of a worm. and the best of all perfumes is musk, which comes from a rat. And the best experience of sexual intercourse is the union of two urine-making areas. [page 114]
- Arabic metaphor's:
God then gave him a mind in his head, covetousness in his kidney, anger in his lives, determination in his heart, fear and terror in his lungs, emotions, laughter and tears in his spleen, happiness and sadness in his face.. [page 115]
Selections from Ibn Hazm's book:
- Pride:
18. A wise man has no satisfaction is a quality which sets him below tigers, dumb beasts and inanimate objects. He rejoices only in his progress in that virtue by which Allâh distinguishes him from these same tigers, dumb beasts and inanimate objects: this is the virtue of intelligence which he shares with the angels.
19. Anyone who feels proud of courage which is not applied in its normal directions, the service of the Almighty God, let him understand that the tiger is braver than him, that the lion, the wolf and the elephant are braver than him.
20. Anyone who glories in his own physical strength, let it be known to him that the mule, the ox and the elephant are physically stronger than him.
21. Anyone who glories is his ability to carry heavy weights, let it be known to him that the donkey can carry greater weights.
22. Anyone who glories in his ability to run, let it be known to him that the dog and the hare are faster runners than he.
23. Anyone who glories in the sound of his voice, let it be known to him that many of the birds have sweeter voices than he, and the sound of the flutes is more exquisite and charming than the sound of his voice.
How can anyone take pride or satisfaction in qualities in which these animals are superior?
24. But a man whose intellect is strong, whose knowledge is extensive and whose deeds are good, he should rejoice because only the angels and the best of men are superior to him in these matters. [page 126]
- Happiness:
29. When a man is asleep, he leaves the world and forgets all joy and all sorrow. If he kept his spirit in the same state on waking, he would know perfect happiness. [page 128]
- Knowledge:
31. If knowledge had no other merit than to make the ignorant fear and respect you, and scholars love and honour you, this would be good enough reason to seek after it. Let alone all its other merits in this world and the next!
32. If ignorance had no other fault than to make the ignorant man jealous of knowledgeable men and jubilant at seeing more people like himself, this by itself would be a reason enough to oblige us to flee it. Let alone the other bad results of this evil in this world and the next!
33. If knowledge and the action of devoting oneself to it had no purpose except to free the man who seeks it from the exhausting anxieties and many worries which afflict the mind, that alone would certainly be enough to drive us to seek knowledge. But what should we say of the other benefits too numerous to list, the least of which are the above-mentioned, and all of which accrue to the knowledgeable man. In search of benefits as small as these the petty kings have worn themselves out in seeking distraction from their anxieties in game of chess, dicing, wine, song, hunting expeditions and other pastimes which bring nothing but harm in this world and the next and absolutely no benefit.
34. If the scholar who has spent long peaceful hours [at his studies] stopped to think how his knowledge has protected him against humiliation at the hands of the ignorant, and against anxiety about unknown truths, and what joy it has brought him by enabling him to solve problems which others find insoluble, he would certainly increase his expressions of gratitude to Allâh and rejoice more in the knowledge that he has and desire even more to add to it. [page 129]
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50. Scholars have brought me pleasure on two occasions in my lifetime: first, they taught me when I was ignorant; the second time was when they conversed with me after I had been taught.
51. One of the merits of religious knowledge and asceticism in this world is that Almighty God does not put it within the reach of anyone except those who are worthy of it and deserve it. One of the disadvantages of the great things of this world, wealth and fame, is that they mostly fall to the lot of people who are unworthy of them and do not deserve them.
52. Anyone who is seeking after virtue should keep company with the virtuous and should take no companion with him on his way except the noblest friend, one of those people who is sympathetic, charitable, truthful, sociable, patient, trustworthy, loyal, magnanimous, pure in conscience and a true friend. [page 132]
- Train Yourself:
57. Train yourself to think about the things that frighten you. If they come to pass, you will not be so worried by them. You will not lose anything by growing accustomed to the thought of them, and your pleasure will be greater or even doubled if something nice or unexpected happens.
61. Blessed is the man who knows his own faults better than others know them. [page 134]
- Introvert vs. Extrovert:
63. Anyone who mingles with the crowd is never short of worries to pain him, or sins to regret on the day when he will return to God, or anger to give him a pain in the liver [heart], or humiliation to make him hang his head. Then what shall I say about someone who is intimate with people and always in their company? Solitude is where you will find dignity, repose, happiness and security. You should treat company like a fire: warm yourself but do not fall in. [“You may draw near but without going right in.”]
64. If the company of the people had only two following faults, that would be enough to keep us away: the first is letting out vital secrets during a friendly meeting, secrets which otherwise would never have been revealed. The second is showing off, putting our immortality in mortal peril. There is no other escape from these two trials than to withdraw into absolute solitude, far from people altogether. [page 135]
- Do not Postpone or belittle:
65. Do not put off to tomorrow what you can do today. If you recognize this obligation you will make haste to do today even very small preparations for tomorrow, for if a small number of tasks are left to mount up they become a great number. In fact they have become too many to do and the whole enterprise will be wrecked.
66. Do not despise any of the actions that you hope to see counted in your favour on the Day of Resurrection. By doing them now, even in small measure, these actions will eventually outweigh the number of your sins which would otherwise add up to sufficient reason to throw you into hellfire. [page 136]
- Deceiver:
69. The first person to break with a deceiver is the one who the deceiver has deceived. The first person to detest a false witness is the person whom the false witness supported. The first person to despise an adulterous woman is the man who caused her to commit adultery. [page 136]
- Intoxication:
70. As far as we know, nothing can be degraded and then resume its natural state without a great trouble and difficulty. What can we say about the man whose head is poisoned by intoxication every night. Indeed, a mind which drives its master towards its own deprivation every night must be a mind condemned. [page 136]
- People:
74. Anyone who sees an important person too often regards him as less eminent and less important.
76. A wise man should not delude himself about friendship which started when he was in power, because everyone was his friend then.
77. The best person to help you in your affairs is someone with equal interest in their success. Do not get anyone to help you who would be just as well off elsewhere.
79. Put your trust in a pious man, even if the religion that he practises is a different one from your own. Do not put your trust in anyone who scorns sacred things, even if he claims to belong to your own religion. As for a man who defies the commandments of the Almighty, do not ever trust him with anything you care greatly about. [page 136]
Perfection:
114. As for vanity, envy, falsehood and treachery, I have absolutely no experience of them from my nature. It seems that I have no merit for avoiding them since all my being spurns them. Thanks for this be rendered to God, Lord of the Worlds.
118. If one knew one’s imperfections one would be perfect. Since no creature is exempt from faults, happy the man whose defects are few and unimportant.
Friendship:
122. A friend who conceals a secret which concerns you is more disloyal towards you than one who tells a secret of yours. For the one who tells your secret is simply betraying you, but the one who conceals one from you is betraying you and also mistrusting you.
123. Do not try to be friends with those who scorn you. You will gain nothing from it but deception and shame.
124. Do not scorn those who try to be friends with you; to do so is a form of injustice and it would be failing to respond to their kindness, and this is bad.
125. Anyone who is forced to mix with men should on no account tell his companion everything that passes through his mind. When he leaves him, he must always behave as if he were a desperate enemy. When he wakes up each morning he should always expect his friends to betray him and do evil, expect them to behave exactly like his sworn enemies. If nothing of the sort happens, he should praise God; if it does, then at least he will prepared and the shock will be less. For myself, I tell you I had a friend who had sworn friendship, sincere pure friendship, for bad times or good, for richer or poorer, in anger and in satisfaction. This friend changed his attitude towards me, in a most hateful way, after twelve years of perfect friendship, and for an absolutely futile reason which I would never have believed could influence such a man. He has never been reconciled with me since, and this has made me very sad for many years.
However, one should not do bad things and follow the example of wicked men and traitors.
130. [In your social life] treat every human being as graciously as you can. If someone comes to you with defects and problems such as arise in the normal course of life, do not let them know that you do not like them. In this way you shall live in peace and quiet.
134. The highest aim of friendship, and there is nothing higher than this, is to have all things in common, one’s own person, one’s belongings, without any constraint, and to prefer one’s friend to every other being. If I had not known Muzaffar and Mûbârak, the two masters of Valencia, I should have thought that such a sentiment had disappeared in our times. But I have never seen any two other men draw so deeply on all the joys of friendship, despite events which would have separated other men.
135. There is no virtue which so much resembles a vice as the faculty of having many friends and acquaintances. But it is really a perfect virtue, made up of various qualities, since friends are only gained by tolerance, generosity, patience, loyalty, signs of affection, shared feelings, and moderation. It is important to protect one’s friends, teach them what one knows, and to win over them by every kind of praiseworthy action.
We do not mean mercenaries, or those who follow us in our days of glory. They are thieves of the title of friendship, they deceive friendship. You think that they are friends and they are not. The proof is that they abandon you when fortune abandons you. Nor do we mean those who make friends for a particular purpose, nor do we mean drinking companions, not those who gang together to commit crimes, or villainy, to attack people’s honour, to satisfy their unhealthy curiosity or for any other useless objective. These are not friends at all. The proof is that they speak evil of each other, and that they disperse as soon as the evil interests which brought them together are finished. We only mean to speak of those pure friends who unite only in the love of God, either to help each other to make some real virtue triumph or to taste the pleasures of the only true kind of friendship.
140. Advice can be given twice. The first time is as prescribed as a religious duty. The second time is a reminder and a warning. If you repeat the advice a third time it becomes a remonstrance and a reprimand. After that you have to slap and punch and perhaps try even more serious methods which may cause harm and damage. Certainly, it is only in questions of religious practices that it is permissible to repeat advice incessantly, whether the listener accepts it or gets irritated, whether the advisor suffers from it or not. When you give advice, give it softly, do not shout it out; use hints, do not speak openly unless you are advising someone who is determined not to understand. Then explanations would be essential. Do not give advice only on condition that it is followed. Otherwise you are a tyrant, not an adviser; you are demanding obedience, you are not allowing religious feeling and brotherly spirit their due. Neither reason nor friendship gives you the right to insist. It is rather the right that a ruler has over his subjects or a master over his slaves.
134. The highest aim of friendship, and there is nothing higher than this, is to have all things in common, one’s own person, one’s belongings, without any constraint, and to prefer one’s friend to every other being. If I had not known Muzaffar and Mûbârak, the two masters of Valencia, I should have thought that such a sentiment had disappeared in our times. But I have never seen any two other men draw so deeply on all the joys of friendship, despite events which would have separated other men.
135. There is no virtue which so much resembles a vice as the faculty of having many friends and acquaintances. But it is really a perfect virtue, made up of various qualities, since friends are only gained by tolerance, generosity, patience, loyalty, signs of affection, shared feelings, and moderation. It is important to protect one’s friends, teach them what one knows, and to win over them by every kind of praiseworthy action.
We do not mean mercenaries, or those who follow us in our days of glory. They are thieves of the title of friendship, they deceive friendship. You think that they are friends and they are not. The proof is that they abandon you when fortune abandons you. Nor do we mean those who make friends for a particular purpose, nor do we mean drinking companions, not those who gang together to commit crimes, or villainy, to attack people’s honour, to satisfy their unhealthy curiosity or for any other useless objective. These are not friends at all. The proof is that they speak evil of each other, and that they disperse as soon as the evil interests which brought them together are finished. We only mean to speak of those pure friends who unite only in the love of God, either to help each other to make some real virtue triumph or to taste the pleasures of the only true kind of friendship.
140. Advice can be given twice. The first time is as prescribed as a religious duty. The second time is a reminder and a warning. If you repeat the advice a third time it becomes a remonstrance and a reprimand. After that you have to slap and punch and perhaps try even more serious methods which may cause harm and damage. Certainly, it is only in questions of religious practices that it is permissible to repeat advice incessantly, whether the listener accepts it or gets irritated, whether the advisor suffers from it or not. When you give advice, give it softly, do not shout it out; use hints, do not speak openly unless you are advising someone who is determined not to understand. Then explanations would be essential. Do not give advice only on condition that it is followed. Otherwise you are a tyrant, not an adviser; you are demanding obedience, you are not allowing religious feeling and brotherly spirit their due. Neither reason nor friendship gives you the right to insist. It is rather the right that a ruler has over his subjects or a master over his slaves.
146. Do not repeat to your friend things that will make him unhappy and which it would not benefit him to know. That would be the action of a fool. Do not hide from him anything that would cause him loss not to know. That would be the action of a wicked person.
147. Do not be pleased if someone praises you for quality which you do not have; on the contrary, be very sorry because it will bring to public attention that you lack them. To sing such praises is to mock and poke fun, and only an idiot or an imbecile would be pleased. Do not be sorry if someone criticizes you for a fault that you do not have; on the contrary, you should be pleased because your merit will be brought to public attention.
148. On the other hand, you should be pleased to possess a praiseworthy quality, whether anyone actually praises you for it or not, and you should be sorry to have a blameworthy fault, whether anyone actually criticizes you for it or not.
151. Men can be divided into seven categories according to certain traits of their characters. Some praise you to your face and criticize you behind your back. This is the characteristic feature of hypocrites and slanderers; it is common, mostly among men. Others criticize you to your face and behind your back. This is characteristic of slanderers who are powerful and insolent. Some men flatter you to your face and behind your back. This is the mark of flatterers and social climbers. Others again criticize you to your face and praise you behind your back. This is characteristic of fools and imbeciles. Virtuous people take care neither to praise nor to criticize you in your presence. Either they praise you in your absence, or they refrain from criticizing you. Slanderers who are not hypocrites or ignorant say nothing to your face and criticize you in your absence. As for those who want a quiet life, they take care that they neither praise you nor criticize you, whether you are present or absent. We have seen these different types of individuals for ourselves, and we have tested the categories and found them to be true.
147. Do not be pleased if someone praises you for quality which you do not have; on the contrary, be very sorry because it will bring to public attention that you lack them. To sing such praises is to mock and poke fun, and only an idiot or an imbecile would be pleased. Do not be sorry if someone criticizes you for a fault that you do not have; on the contrary, you should be pleased because your merit will be brought to public attention.
148. On the other hand, you should be pleased to possess a praiseworthy quality, whether anyone actually praises you for it or not, and you should be sorry to have a blameworthy fault, whether anyone actually criticizes you for it or not.
151. Men can be divided into seven categories according to certain traits of their characters. Some praise you to your face and criticize you behind your back. This is the characteristic feature of hypocrites and slanderers; it is common, mostly among men. Others criticize you to your face and behind your back. This is characteristic of slanderers who are powerful and insolent. Some men flatter you to your face and behind your back. This is the mark of flatterers and social climbers. Others again criticize you to your face and praise you behind your back. This is characteristic of fools and imbeciles. Virtuous people take care neither to praise nor to criticize you in your presence. Either they praise you in your absence, or they refrain from criticizing you. Slanderers who are not hypocrites or ignorant say nothing to your face and criticize you in your absence. As for those who want a quiet life, they take care that they neither praise you nor criticize you, whether you are present or absent. We have seen these different types of individuals for ourselves, and we have tested the categories and found them to be true.
True Love and false love:
161. We have observed that a man who is legally able to marry his close relatives is not satisfied with favours which would satisfy someone who is not permitted to marry them. His love does not stop at the same point as the love of a man who is forbidden by law to love them. Those, such as Magians and Jews, who are permitted to marry their own daughters and nieces, do not curb their love at the same point as a Muslim does. On the contrary, they feel the same love to their daughters or to their nieces as a Muslim does to a woman he will sleep with. One never sees a Muslim desiring his close relatives in this way, even if they are more beautiful than the sun itself, even if he is the most debauched and the most amorous of men. And if, very exceptionally, it should happen, it would be only among the impious, who do not feel the constraint of the religion, and who allow themselves every lustful thought, and who find every gate of desire open to them. It cannot be guaranteed that a Muslim might not love his cousin so excessively that his love became a passion and overstepped the affection which he bore towards his daughter and niece, even if the cousin was not so beautiful as they. In fact he might desire favours from his cousin which he would never expect from his daughter or his niece. On the other hand, a Christian will treat his cousin with equal respect, for he is not permitted to desire her. But [unlike a Muslim] he does not have to restrain himself with anyone who shared a wet nurse with him, since he may desire her without offending the laws of his religion.
162. We now see the truth of what we said earlier: love in all its manifestations forms one single generic family, but its species vary according to the different objects of its desire.
163. Having said this, human nature is the same every where but different customs and religious beliefs have created apparent differences.
164. We do not say that desire has an influence only on love. We would say that is the cause of all kinds of cares, even those which concern one’s fortune and social position. Thus it may be observed that a man who sees the death of his neighbour, or of his maternal uncle, his friend, his cousin, his great-uncle, his nephew, his maternal grandfather or his grandson, having no claim on their property, does not fret because it has escaped him, however large and considerable their fortunes might be, because he had no expectation of them. But as soon as a distant member of his father's family dies, or one of his remotest clients, he begins to covet their belongings. And with the coveting comes crowding in anxiety, regret, anger and great sorrow if some tiny part of their fortune escapes him.
170. The man who is unhappy in love is the one who is racked by a passion for one whom he can keep locked away and with whom he may be united without incurring the wrath of God or the criticism of his fellow-men. All is well when the two lovers agree in loving each other. For love to run its course freely, it is essential that the two do not feel bored, for that is a bad feeling which gives rise to hatred. Perfect love would be if destiny forgot the two lovers while they were enjoying each other. But where could that happen except in Paradise? Only there can love be sure of shelter, for that is the home of everlasting stability. Otherwise, in the world, such feelings are not protected from misfortunes, and we go through life without ever tasting pleasure to the full.
171. When gheerah (jealousy) dies, you may be sure that love has also died.
172. Jealousy is a virtuous feeling which is made of courage and justice; truly, a just man hates to infringe the sacred rights of others, and hates to see others infringe his own sacred rights. When courage is inborn in a person, it gives rise to a grandeur of spirit which abhors injustice.
173. A man whose fortunes I have followed during these times told me once that he himself had never known jealousy until he was racked by love. Only then did he feel jealous. This man was corrupt by nature, he was a bad character, but nevertheless he was perspicacious and generous.
174. There are five stages in the growth of love: first is to think someone pleasant, that is, someone thinks of someone else as being nice or is charmed by their character. This is part of making friends. Then there is admiration; that is the desire to be near the person that one admires. Then there is close friendship when you miss the other one terribly when they are absent. Then there is amorous affection when you are completely obsessed with the loved one. In the special vocabulary of love this is called ‘ishq, “the slavery of love”. Finally, there is passion, when one can no longer sleep, eat or think. This can make you ill to the point of delirium or even death. Beyond this, there is absolutely no place where love ends.
Practical Morality:
Self Help for the corrupt:
Show-off:
272. Take care not to boast, because nobody will believe you, even if you are telling the truth. On the contrary, they will take everything that you have said when boasting about yourself and use it as the basis of their criticism of you.
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Patience:
320. The same could be said about admitting one is afraid or concealing the fact. To make it obvious that one is troubled as soon as one begins to have difficulties is bad, because it means that you cannot control yourself and your display of emotion serves no useful purpose. Indeed, divine law counsels against it; it stops you doing what has to be done and to make the necessary arrangements in view of the events which one foresees and which may be more terrible than the present situation which has given risen to this fear.
321. Now, given that it is wrong to let your fear be seen, the opposite is good, that is, to display patience, because that means you are in control of yourself, you have turned away from useless actions and towards actions which are profitable and useful both immediately and in the future.
322. As for hiding your patience, that is wrong too, since it would look as if you were unfeeling, hardhearted and lacking in mercy. These faults are found only among wicked people, vicious natures, cruel and vile souls.
323. All this being very ugly, the opposite, which consists of concealing the fact that you are troubled, is praiseworthy because it is a mark of pity, gentleness, charity and compassion.
324. Thus one can say that the happy medium, for a man, is to have a sensitive soul but an impassive body, that is to say that neither on his face or in his comportment should there be any sign that he is troubled.
If a man whose own judgement is poor only knew what harm his false calculations had brought upon him so far, he would find success in the future if he stopped relying on his own judgement, Allâh guide us.
Search for repute and popularity:
326. As for the man who has the ambition and the obsession to spread his fame to every country and to be remembered throughout the centuries, let him reflect and say to his soul: “O my soul, if you were gloriously famous in all the countries of the world, for all eternity and to the end of time, but if I was not told about it about it and if I knew nothing about it, do you think I would be happy or satisfied about it, yes or not?” There is no doubt that the answer would be “No”, for any other answer would be impossible. Having convinced himself of this truth, the man must understand that when he is dead he will have no possibility of knowing whether he is famous or not. Moreover he would not know while he was still alive if nobody told him.
327. He should also consider two important points. First, that there have been in earlier times a great number of virtuous Prophets and Messengers of God – God grant them His blessing – of whom nobody on the surface of the earth remembers the name, nor any trace, nor any memory, nor their history, nor the slightest thing about them.
328. Secondly, there have been, among the good and virtuous men who were the companions of the Prophets in ancient times, ascetics, philosophers, scholars, excellent men, kings of nations which have disappeared, founders of cities which are now deserted, courtesans of princes whose history has also not come down to us. Nobody knows anything about them nowadays and nobody has the slightest knowledge that they existed. Has that fact harmed any of them that were virtuous? Has it diminished their merit, destroyed their good deeds, has it lowered them in the eyes of their Almighty Creator? Let me tell anyone who did not already know it that there does not exist anywhere in the world the smallest scrap of information about any of the earthly sovereigns or the ancient generations who preceded men’s historical knowledge, which begins with the kings of Israel. And everything that we know of the history of the sovereigns of Greece and of Persia does not go back further than two thousand years. Where is the remembrance of the men who peopled the earth before them? Is it not, in fact, totally wiped out, disappeared, vanished, forgotten?
This is why the Almighty has spoken of “Messengers of whom We have not told you the history at all” [Qur’ân 4:164] and God also said: “Many centuries in between,” [Qur’ân 25:38] and God also said: “Those who came after and who are known only to God” [Qur’ân 14:9]. Even if the memory of a man persists for a short period of time, would that in itself make him any different from those who lived in olden times in nations that have disappeared and of which the memory also persisted a short while before being completely lost?
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332. However, it is no part of gratitude to assist someone is committing sin and not to advise him in the cases where he doing himself harm in this world and the next. On the deceiving him, denying his benefactions, acting unjustly in his respect and failing to recognize his goodness. Moreover, the goodness and benefactions of God towards each one of His creatures are much more considerable, more longstanding, more salutary than those of any other benefactor. Indeed, it is the Almighty who has opened our eyes to see, who has pierced our ears to hear, it is He who has granted us the other excellent senses and has endowed us with speech and discernment, two benefits by grace of which we have been made able to hear His words. He has subjected to our service everything which exists in the skies and upon the earth – stars and elements – and has placed none of His creatures above us, except only His holy angels, the inhabitants of the heavens. What are the gifts of men compared with these! Anyone who imagines that he is thanking a benefactor by helping him to do evil, or by taking his side when he should not, would be denying the gifts of the greatest of his benefactors, whose gifts he would be failing to recognize. He would not be rendering thanks to Him to whom all thanks truly belong, he would not be praising Him who is the essence of praiseworthiness, that is to say, Allâh the Almighty.
Anyone who steps between his benefactor and evil, leading him back to the bitter truth, would be showing true gratitude and would be fulfilling perfectly his obligation towards him. Praises be to God at first and at last and in all circumstances!
[Ref: http://muslimphilosophy.com/hazm/akhlaq/index.html]
Practical Morality:
181. Fickleness, which is a fault, consists of switching from one way of life which is forced and senseless, to another way of life which is equally forced and senseless from one absurd state to an equally absurd state for no good reason.
182. But a man who will adopt habits which suit his capabilities and his needs, and who will reject everything that is of no use to him [will be drawing on] one of the best sources of good sense and wisdom.
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186. Stupidity is defined as the practice of disobedience to God and the practice of vices.
187. As for going wild, throwing stones at people, not knowing what one is saying, that is lunacy and excess of bile.
188. Stupidity is opposite of good sense, as we have shown above; and there is no middle point between good sense and stupidity unless it is ineptitude.
189. The definition of ineptitude is to work and speak in a way that neither serves religion nor the world nor a healthy morality. This is neither disobedience to God not obedience, it does not bring anybody else to such acts, it is neither a virtue nor a harmful vice. It consists only of drivelling and rambling about doing pointless things. According to whether these actions are frequent or rare, the person should be treated as more or less inept. Moreover he may be inept in one matter, sensible in another, stupid in a third.
190. The opposite of madness is the ability to discern and the ability to make free use of sciences and technical knowledge. It is what the ancients called the “faculty of reasoning". There is no middle point between these two extremes.
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207. Anyone who comes to you with lies will go away with truths; that is to say, anyone who repeats to you lies which he attributes to a third person will make you beside yourself with rage; you will respond to him, and your response is the truth that he will carry away. Therefore be careful not to behave like this, and only answer when you are certain about the provenance of the lies.
208. There is nothing worse than falsehood. For how do you regard a vice which has as one of its varieties disbelief or impiety itself? For all disbelief is falsehood. Falsehood is the genus and disbelief is one of its species. Falsehood arises from wickedness, cowardice and ignorance. Truly, cowardice debases the soul. A liar has a vile soul which is far away from achieving a greatness worthy of praise.
209. If we categorize people by the way of their speaking – and, remember, it is speech that distinguishes mankind from donkeys, dogs and vermin – we can divide them into three groups: the first kind do not worry about what they pass on, they say everything that comes into their heads, without keeping to the truth or correcting mistakes, and this is the case with the majority of people. Another group speak in order to defend their own fixed opinions, or to protest against what they believe to be false, without trying to establish the truth, merely holding their ground. This is frequently the case, but it is not so serious as the first group. The third group makes use of language in the way of God intended and this is more precious than red sulphur.
211. Two kinds of people live a life without care: one kind are extremely worthy of praise, one kind are those who care nothing for the pleasures of this world, and the other kind those who care nothing for haya’, modesty.
212. To distance ourselves from the vanities of the world it should suffice to remember that every night every man alive, in his sleep, forgets everything that worried him during the day, all his fears, all his hopes. He no longer remembers his children or his parents, glory or obscurity, high social responsibilities or unemployment, poverty or riches, nor catastrophes. Such a lesson should be sufficient for a thoughtful person.
213. One of the most marvellous arrangements in God’s world is that He has made the thing that are most necessary also the most easily attainable, as can be seen in the case of water and the thing which is even more necessary. (i.e. air) And the less essential a thing is, the rarer it is, as can be seen in the case of sapphires and things which are even less useful.
214. With all the worries, a man is like someone walking across a desert. Every time that he crosses a certain area, he sees other areas opening in front of him. Likewise, every time that a man gets something done, he finds other tasks piling up.
215. That man was right who said that the good have a hard time in this world. But the man who said that the good are at rest was also right. The good do suffer from all the evil that they see spread over everything, dominating it, and all the appearances of justice which rear up between true justice and themselves. But their calmness comes from [their indifference to] all the vanities of this world which so worry the rest of mankind.
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217. If you have to choose between annoying people or annoying the Almighty, and if there is no way out except either to run away from the right or to run away from the people, you should choose to annoy the people and run away from them, but do not annoy your God, do not run away from injustice.
218. You should imitate the Prophet – peace be upon him – when he preached to the ignorant, the sinful and the wicked. Anyone who preaches drily and cheerlessly is doing wrong and is not applying the Prophet’s method. Such preaching would usually only drive his audience to persist in their wicked ways, from obstinacy, anger and rage against the insolent sermonizer. He would then have done bad with his talk, not good. But a man who exhorts in a friendly fashion, with a smile and with gentleness, putting on the appearance of offering advice and seeming to be speaking of a third person when he criticizes the faults of the one he is speaking to, then his words reach farther and have more effect. But if they are not well received, he should go on to exhort or to appeal to the man’s sense of shame, but only in private. And if [his advice] is still not taken, he should speak in the presence of someone who will make the sinner change. This is the practice which God ordains when He commands the use of “courteous terms”. The Prophet used not to address his listeners directly; instead, he would say to them “What are they thinking of, the people who do such thing?…” Peace be upon him! He praised gentleness, commended us to be tolerant and not to argue. He varied his sermons so as not to be boring. And God has said, “If you are harsh, and hardhearted, they would have scattered from about you.” [Qur’ān 3:159.] Severity and hardness should not be used except to inflict the punishment ordained by God. A man who has been given special authority to inflict such punishment must not be gentle.
219. Something which can also have a good effect in a sermon is to praise, in the presence of a wrongdoer, somebody who has acted differently. This is an incitement to behave better. I know no other benefit of the love of praise: a person who hears another being praised models himself on him. It is for this reason that we should tell stories of virtue and vice, so that anyone who hears them may turn away from the wicked deed that he hears others have done and accomplish the good deeds that he hears that others have done, so learning from history.
220. I have considered everything that lives beneath the skies, I have reflected long upon it, and I have observed that everything that exists, whether animate or inanimate, has a natural tendency to build itself up by divesting the other species of their characteristics and investing them with his own. Thus, a virtuous man hopes that all mankind will become virtuous and the sinner hopes that all mankind will become sinful. One may observe that everybody who recalls a past action of their own which they incite others to imitate says, “I always do such and such”; someone with a doctrine wishes that everybody would agree with him. This phenomenon can also be seen among the elements: when some become strong than others, they change them to their own substance: you can see how trees are formed, and how plants and trees are nourished by transforming water and the moisture in the soil to their own substance. For this may glory be given to Him who created and organized all things, the is no other God but He.
Self Help for the corrupt:
223. A man who is subject to pride should think of his faults. If he is proud of his virtues, he should seek out what is mean in his character. And if his faults are so well hidden from him that he thinks he has none, let him know that his misfortune will last for ever, that he is the worst of men, that he has the worst faults of all and is the least perceptive.
224. In the first place, he is weak in mind and ignorant. No fault is worse then these two, for a wise man is one who sees his own faults, fights against them and tries to overcome them. A fool ignores them because he has little knowledge and discernment and his thoughts are feeble, possibly because he takes his faults to be good qualities, and there is nothing on earth worse than this.
225. There are many who boast of having committed adultery, homosexuality [acts of child abuse], theft, and other sins, and are proud of these stains and of the aptitudes that they deployed in these shameful acts.
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232. If you are proud of your personal ideas remember your mistakes, keep them in your memory, do not forget them: think of all the times you have believed yourself right and you have been right and you have been wrong. If you do this, you will see that in most cases you have been wrong about as often as right. The score will come out about equal. But it is more likely that your mistakes will be more numerous because this is the case with every human being except the Prophets, the peace of God be upon them!
233. If you are proud of your good works, remember your times of rebellion, your faults, your life in all its aspects. Ah, by God, then you will find that they outnumber your good works and it will make your good deeds forgotten. So you should worry about this for a long time and replace your pride with self-disdain.
234. If you are proud of your knowledge, you should know that it is no credit to you, it is a pure gift that God has granted you. Do not receive it in a way that would anger the Almighty because He might wipe it from you by subjecting you to an illness which would make you forget all that you have learned and stored in your memory. I have been told that this happened to ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Tarif [d.400 AH, 1009 CE], who was a scholar, intelligent, moderate, exact in his researches, who had been allotted by fate such a prodigious memory that virtually nothing reached his ears that had to be said to him twice. Now he undertook a journey by ship and experienced such a terrible storm at sea that he lost the memory of most of what he had learnt and suffered considerable upset to his mind. He never recovered his full intelligence. I myself have been struck by illness. When I got up from it I had forgotten all my knowledge except for a few ideas of little value. I did not recover it until several years later.
235. You should also know that there are many people greedy for knowledge, who devote themselves to reading, to study and to research but do not reap any benefit from it. A scholar should realize that it is enough to pursue knowledge, many others will rank higher than him. Knowledge is truly a gift from God. So what place is there for pride? One can only feel humble, give thanks to God Almighty and beg Him to increase His gifts not to withhold them.
236.You should also remember that everything that remains hidden from you, everything that you do not know of the different branches of knowledge, the aspects that you have specialized in, and that you are proud to have penetrated [nevertheless what you do not know] is greater than what you do know. You should therefore replace your pride with scorn and self disdain, that would be better. Think of those who are more knowledgeable than you – you will find that there are many of them – and may your spirit be humble in your own sight.
237. You should also remember that you may be deceived by knowledge, for if you do not put into practice what you know your knowledge will be a testimony against you and it would have been better for you if you had never been a scholar. For you should remember that an ignorant man is wiser than you, he is in a better position, he is more excusable. May your pride then completely disappear.
238. Moreover, the knowledge that you are so proud of having penetrated is perhaps one of the less important branches of knowledge, of no great value, such as poetry or suchlike. You should then remember the man whose branch of study is more noble than yours on the scale of this world and the next, and your soul should become humble in your own sight.
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242. Remember what was said by Ibn al Sammâk [Abû al-‘Abbâs Muhammad Ibn Subayh, d. 183 AH; 799 CE] to al-Rashîd when the latter asked to be brought a cup of drinking water: “Commander of the faithful, if this drink were refused you, how much would you offer to get it?” “My entire kingdom,” replied al-Rashîd. “Commander of the faithful,” continues the other, “if you found that you could not pass water from you body, how much would you sacrifice to able to do so?” “My entire kingdom.” “O lord of the Believers, how can you boast of a kingdom which is not worth as much as a little urine and a few mouthfuls of water?” Ibn al-Sammâk was right, Allâh grant him peace.
243. If you were king of all the Muslims, you should remember that the king of Sudan, a disreputable black man, an ignorant man who does not cover his private parts, has a larger kingdom than yours. If you say, “I have taken it by right”, [no], upon my life, you have not taken it by right if it is a source of arrogance in you and you do not use your position to bring justice. You should be ashamed of your position; it is a state of turpitude, not a state to feel proud of.
244. If you take pride in your wealth, that is the worse degree of pride. Think of all the vile and debauched men who are richer than you and do not take pride in something in which they outdo you. You should realize that it is stupid to take pride in possessions; riches are burdens which bring no benefit until you dispose of them and spend them according to the law. Wealth is also ephemeral and fleeing. It can escape, and you can find it again anywhere, perhaps in someone else’s hands, perhaps in the hands of your enemy. To take pride in your wealth is stupid, to put your trust in good fortune is a trap and a weakness.
245. If you take pride in your beauty, think of the harm it gives rise to, which we would be ashamed to put into words. You yourself will be ashamed of it when your beauty disappears with age. But in saying this we have said enough.
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247. If you study the laws that regulate human nature and the development of different characters according to the mixture of elements rooted in their souls, you will surely become convinced that you have no merit from your own virtues, that they are only gifts from the Almighty, which, if He had granted to another, would have made him just like you, and you will realize that, left to your own devices, you would collapse and die. You would replace your pride that you take in your virtues with acts of grace towards the One who gave them to you, and with the fear of losing them, for even the most admirable characters can be altered by illness, poverty, fear, anger or the decrepitude of old age. Show compassion towards those who lack the gifts that you have received, and do not risk losing them by seeking to raise yourself above the One who gave them by claiming merit for yourself or rights in what He has granted to you, or by thinking that you can dispense with His protection, for without it you would perish at once and for ever.
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257. If you take pride in your physical strength, remember that the mule, the donkey, and the bull are stronger than you, and better suited to carrying heavy loads. If you feel vain about the lightness of your running style, remember that the dog and hare surpass you in this field. It is extremely curious that rational beings feel proud of something in which they are surpassed by dumb animals.
Reality of oppression:
260. You should remember that if you oppress or maltreat beings whose fate has been entrusted to you by God as slaves or subjects, this shows that you have an ignoble soul, a vile spirit, a weak intelligence. Indeed, a wise man with his noble spirit, his elevated thoughts, fights only against people as strong as himself, his peers in potency; but to attack those who cannot defend themselves is the sign of a vile nature, a depraved soul and character, it shows you to be incapable and dishonorable. A man who behaved like this would descend to the level of someone who was pleased to have killed a rat, to have exterminated a flea or to have squashed a louse. There is nothing more base or vile.
Show-off:
272. Take care not to boast, because nobody will believe you, even if you are telling the truth. On the contrary, they will take everything that you have said when boasting about yourself and use it as the basis of their criticism of you.
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274. Also take care no to pretend to be poor. You will not gain anything except to be treated as a liar or to be scorned by anyone who listens to you. You will have no benefit from it except that you will fail to recognize the gifts you have from the Lord, and if you complain about it to anyone they will have no pity on you.
276. You should also take care not to display your wealth for all that you will achieve is that those who hear you will covet what you possess.
277. Be content to offer thanks to the Almighty, to confide your needs to Him, and to take notice of those who are inferior to Him. In this way you will keep your dignity, and those who envy you will leave you alone.
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302. The worst evil is to oppress your friend. As for keeping him away from yourself, that would be the action of a man without spirit and destined to misfortune.
Patience:
320. The same could be said about admitting one is afraid or concealing the fact. To make it obvious that one is troubled as soon as one begins to have difficulties is bad, because it means that you cannot control yourself and your display of emotion serves no useful purpose. Indeed, divine law counsels against it; it stops you doing what has to be done and to make the necessary arrangements in view of the events which one foresees and which may be more terrible than the present situation which has given risen to this fear.
321. Now, given that it is wrong to let your fear be seen, the opposite is good, that is, to display patience, because that means you are in control of yourself, you have turned away from useless actions and towards actions which are profitable and useful both immediately and in the future.
322. As for hiding your patience, that is wrong too, since it would look as if you were unfeeling, hardhearted and lacking in mercy. These faults are found only among wicked people, vicious natures, cruel and vile souls.
323. All this being very ugly, the opposite, which consists of concealing the fact that you are troubled, is praiseworthy because it is a mark of pity, gentleness, charity and compassion.
324. Thus one can say that the happy medium, for a man, is to have a sensitive soul but an impassive body, that is to say that neither on his face or in his comportment should there be any sign that he is troubled.
If a man whose own judgement is poor only knew what harm his false calculations had brought upon him so far, he would find success in the future if he stopped relying on his own judgement, Allâh guide us.
Search for repute and popularity:
326. As for the man who has the ambition and the obsession to spread his fame to every country and to be remembered throughout the centuries, let him reflect and say to his soul: “O my soul, if you were gloriously famous in all the countries of the world, for all eternity and to the end of time, but if I was not told about it about it and if I knew nothing about it, do you think I would be happy or satisfied about it, yes or not?” There is no doubt that the answer would be “No”, for any other answer would be impossible. Having convinced himself of this truth, the man must understand that when he is dead he will have no possibility of knowing whether he is famous or not. Moreover he would not know while he was still alive if nobody told him.
327. He should also consider two important points. First, that there have been in earlier times a great number of virtuous Prophets and Messengers of God – God grant them His blessing – of whom nobody on the surface of the earth remembers the name, nor any trace, nor any memory, nor their history, nor the slightest thing about them.
328. Secondly, there have been, among the good and virtuous men who were the companions of the Prophets in ancient times, ascetics, philosophers, scholars, excellent men, kings of nations which have disappeared, founders of cities which are now deserted, courtesans of princes whose history has also not come down to us. Nobody knows anything about them nowadays and nobody has the slightest knowledge that they existed. Has that fact harmed any of them that were virtuous? Has it diminished their merit, destroyed their good deeds, has it lowered them in the eyes of their Almighty Creator? Let me tell anyone who did not already know it that there does not exist anywhere in the world the smallest scrap of information about any of the earthly sovereigns or the ancient generations who preceded men’s historical knowledge, which begins with the kings of Israel. And everything that we know of the history of the sovereigns of Greece and of Persia does not go back further than two thousand years. Where is the remembrance of the men who peopled the earth before them? Is it not, in fact, totally wiped out, disappeared, vanished, forgotten?
This is why the Almighty has spoken of “Messengers of whom We have not told you the history at all” [Qur’ân 4:164] and God also said: “Many centuries in between,” [Qur’ân 25:38] and God also said: “Those who came after and who are known only to God” [Qur’ân 14:9]. Even if the memory of a man persists for a short period of time, would that in itself make him any different from those who lived in olden times in nations that have disappeared and of which the memory also persisted a short while before being completely lost?
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332. However, it is no part of gratitude to assist someone is committing sin and not to advise him in the cases where he doing himself harm in this world and the next. On the deceiving him, denying his benefactions, acting unjustly in his respect and failing to recognize his goodness. Moreover, the goodness and benefactions of God towards each one of His creatures are much more considerable, more longstanding, more salutary than those of any other benefactor. Indeed, it is the Almighty who has opened our eyes to see, who has pierced our ears to hear, it is He who has granted us the other excellent senses and has endowed us with speech and discernment, two benefits by grace of which we have been made able to hear His words. He has subjected to our service everything which exists in the skies and upon the earth – stars and elements – and has placed none of His creatures above us, except only His holy angels, the inhabitants of the heavens. What are the gifts of men compared with these! Anyone who imagines that he is thanking a benefactor by helping him to do evil, or by taking his side when he should not, would be denying the gifts of the greatest of his benefactors, whose gifts he would be failing to recognize. He would not be rendering thanks to Him to whom all thanks truly belong, he would not be praising Him who is the essence of praiseworthiness, that is to say, Allâh the Almighty.
Anyone who steps between his benefactor and evil, leading him back to the bitter truth, would be showing true gratitude and would be fulfilling perfectly his obligation towards him. Praises be to God at first and at last and in all circumstances!
Dua:
348. May God grant that we may count among the number of those whom He permits to do good and to practice it, and among the number of those who see the straight road, for no one is without faults; someone who perceives his own weaknesses will forget those of others. May God permit us to die in the Sunna [law] of Muhammad. Amen, O Lord of the Worlds!
[Ref: http://muslimphilosophy.com/hazm/akhlaq/index.html]
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