SELECTIONS FROM THE REVITALISATION OF THE SCIENCES OF RELIGION Al-Ghazali’s Ihya’ Ulum al-Din On the Discipline of the Soul Disciplining the Soul Refining the Character, And Curing the Sickness of the Heart Kitab Riyadat Al-nafs Wa Tahdhib Al-akhlaq Wa Mu’alajat Amrad Al-qalb An Exposition of Merit, which is in having Good Character, and a Condemnation of Bad Character Allah, the Almighty said to His Prophet, praise and peace be upon him, and loved one - may Allah praise and venerate him - , in praise of him, and in order to make manifest His blessing upon him: “Surely, you (Prophet Muhammad) are of a great morality.” (Ch. 68 verse 4). And Ayesha, may Allah be pleased with her, said: “The character of the Messenger of Allah - may Allah praise and venerate him - was the Koran.” A man once asked the Messenger of Allah, praise and peace be upon him, about a good character, and he recited the statement of the Almighty: “Accept the easing, order with fine jurisprudence, and avoid the ignorant.” (Ch. 7 verse 199) He then said: “It is that you should seek reconciliation with those who avoid you, give to those who withhold from you, and forgive those who deal with you unjustly.” And he said: “I was sent to perfect the code of ethics.” And he said: “The heaviest things to be placed in the Scales shall be the fear of Allah and good character.” And he said: “The most beloved of you to me on the Day of Resurrection, and the ones who shall sit closest to me, will be the best of you in character.” The Narratives Luqman the Wise once asked his father: “Father, what is the finest single trait in a man?” “Religion,” he replied. Then he asked: “And the finest three?” “Religion, wealth and modesty.” And if they should be four?” “Religion, wealth, modesty and good character.” And if they should be five?’ And he replied: “Religion, wealth, modesty, good character and generosity.” And if they should be six?” “O my son,” he replied, “When these five traits come together in a man, then he is pious and pure, one of Allah ’s awlia (those close to Allah), and is quit of satan.” Ibn al-Mubarak was once accompanied on a journey by a man of bad character, and treated him with forbearance and politeness. When they parted (Ibn al-Mubarak) wept. Upon being asked why he did so, he replied: “I weep out of compassion for him: I have left him, but his character is still with him, and has not departed from his company.” Ibn Ata said: “Those who have reached high degrees have done so only through good character. An Exposition on the True Nature of Good and Bad Character Know that people have discoursed upon the true nature of good character, and upon what it constitutes, but have in fact treated only the fruit, which it bears, and not its reality. They have not even grasped the entirety of its fruit of which everyone has mentioned that, which occurred to him and came to him mind; never have they directed their attention towards providing a definition for it or a discussion of its nature, which takes all of its fruits into account in a detailed and comprehensive fashion. There is, for example, the saying of al-Hasan that ‘Good character is a cheerful face, magnanimity, and doing no harm.’ And al-Wasit has said: “It is that one should not argue with anyone or be argued with by anyone, because of one’s firm knowledge of Allah, the Almighty .” Shah al-Kirmani said: “It is to do no harm, and to endure harm instead.” Al-Husayn ibn Mansur (al-Hallaj) said: “It is that you should be unaffected by the harshness of mankind after having beheld the Truth.” Just as one’s external appearance can never be beautiful when the eyes are beautiful but not the nose, the mouth and the cheek – for all (the features) must be beautiful if one’s outward aspect is to be beautiful also – so too there exist things, four in number, which must all be beautiful if one is to be possessed of a beautiful character, which one will obtain when these four things are settled, balanced, and in the correct proportion to each other. These are the rational faculty, the irascible faculty, the appetitive faculty, and the faculty, which effects a just equilibrium between these three things. The rational faculty is sound and good when it is easily able to discriminate, that is, to distinguish honesty from lies in speech, truth from falsehood in questions of belief, and beauty from ugliness in actions. When this faculty is sound it bears fruit in the form of wisdom, which is the chief of the good traits of character, and regarding, which Allah has said: “…He gives wisdom to whom He will, and he who is given wisdom has been given a lot of good. …” (Ch. 2 verse 269) Regarding the irascible faculty, this is sound when its movements lie within the bounds required by wisdom. Likewise, the appetitive faculty is sound and good when it is under the command of wisdom, by, which I mean the command of the Law and the intellect. As for the faculty to effect a just equilibrium, it is this, which sets desire and anger under the command of the intellect and the Law. For the intellect has the status of a guiding counselor, while the faculty for just equilibrium is the (actualizing) power, and has the status of something, which carries out its orders. The same command is carried out by the irascible faculty, which is like a hunting dog, which needs to be trained before it’s unleashing and restraint can conform it to orders rather than to the outbursts of the soul’s desire. In turn, desire is like a horse, which one rides during the chase, and, which is sometimes tractable and well disciplined, and sometimes endeavors to bolt. Therefore, the man in whom these characteristics are sound and balanced is possessed of a good character under all circumstances. The man in whom some of them are balanced and not others is good of character in respect of his balanced traits alone, in the manner of a man only some of whose facial features are handsome. The irascible faculty, when sound and balanced, is called ‘courage’ (shuj’a); similarly, the appetitive faculty, when sound and balanced, is known as ‘Temperance’ (iffa). Should the former faculty lose its balance and incline towards excess it is called ‘recklessness’ (tahawwur), while should it incline towards weakness and insufficiency it is termed ‘cowardice’ (jubn) and ‘languor’ (khur). Should the appetitive faculty move to the point of excess it is called ‘cupidity’ (sharah), while if it should incline to defect it is known as ‘indifference’ (jumud). The mean is the praiseworthy thing, and it is this, which constitutes virtue, while the two extremes are blameworthy vices. The faculty for just equilibrium, however, when in disorder, has no extremes of excess and defect; rather it has one opposite, which is tyranny (jur). As for wisdom, exceeding the bounds in its regard by using it for corrupt ends is called ‘swindling’ and ‘fraud’. While it’s insufficient application is termed ‘stupidity’ (balah). Again it is the mean to, which the word ‘wisdom’ is applied. Therefore the fundamental good traits of character are four in number: Wisdom, Courage, Temperance and Justice. By ‘wisdom’ we mean a condition of the soul by, which it distinguishes true from false in all volitional acts, by ‘justice’ a condition and potency in the soul by, which it controls the expansion and contraction of anger and desire as directed by wisdom. By ‘courage’ we refer to the subjection of the irascible faculty to the intellect, while by ‘temperance’ we have in mind the disciplining of the appetitive faculty by the intellect and the Law. It is from the equilibrium of these four principles that all the good traits of character proceed, since when the intellect is balanced it will bring forth discretion (husn al-tadbir) and excellence of discernment (jawdat al-dhin), penetration of thought (thaqabat al-ra’y) and correctness of conjecture (isabat al-zam), and an understanding of the subtle implications of actions and the hidden defects of the soul. When unbalanced in the direction of excess, then cunning, swindling, deception and slyness result, and when in that of defect, then stupidity (balah), inexperience (ghimara), foolishness (hamq), heedlessness and insanity are the consequences. By inexperience I mean an insufficient experience, which is nonetheless combined with sound understanding; a man may be inexperienced in one matter and not in another. The difference between stupidity and insanity is that the intention of the stupid man is sound, only his means of realizing it are defective, since he is not possessed of a correct understanding of how to follow the way leading to his goal; the madman, on the other hand, chooses that, which should not be chosen, so that the basis of his decisions and preference is flawed. As for the trait of Courage, this gives rise to nobility (karam), intrepidity (najda), manliness (shahama), greatness of soul, endurance (ihtimal), clemency (hilm), steadfastness (thabat), the suppression of rage (kazm al-ghayz), dignity (waqar), affection and other such praiseworthy qualities. When unbalanced on the side of excess, which is recklessness, it leads to arrogance (salaf) conceit (badhkh), quickness to anger (istishata), pride (takabbur) and vainglory, self-abasement (dhilla), cowardice (jaza), meanness (khasasa), lack of resolution (sighar al-nafs), and holding oneself back from doing that, which is right and obligatory. As for the quality of Temperance, this gives rise to generosity (sakha’), modesty (haya), patience (sabr), tolerance (musamaha), contentedness with one’s lot (qina’a), scrupulousness, wit, helping others (musa’ada), cheerfulness (zarf) and absence of craving (qillat al-tama). When it deviates towards excess or defect, greed (hirs), cupidity (sharah) and obscenity (waqaha) result, as to spite (khbth), extravagance (tabdhir), stinginess (taqsir), ostentation (riya), immorality (hurka), obscenity (majana), triviality (‘abath), flattery (malq), envy (hasad), malice (shamata), self-abasement before the rich, disdain for the poor, and so forth. An Exposition on the Susceptibility of the Traits of Character to Change through Discipline Know that the man who is dominated by sloth will consider unpleasant any spiritual struggle and discipline, or any purifying of the soul and refinement of the character. Because of his deficiency and remissness, and the foulness of his inward nature, his soul will not permit him to undertake such a thing, therefore he will claim that the traits of a man’s character cannot conceivably be altered, and that human nature in immutable. He will adduce two things in support of this claim. Firtly, he will say that character (khuluq) is the form of the inward in the same way that the created form (khalq) of man is the form of the outward. No one is able to alter his external appearance; a short man cannot make himself tall, neither can an ugly man render himself handsome, and vice versa; and thus is the case with inward ugliness. Secondly, he will assert that goodness of character proceeds from suppressing one’s desire and anger, and that he has tested this by means of a long inward struggle, which demonstrated to him that these things are part of one’s character and nature, which can never be separated from the human creature, so that busying oneself with such struggling is profitless and a waste of time. (To such an objection) we would say: Were the traits of character not susceptible to change there would be no value in counsels, sermons and discipline, and the Prophet, praise and peace be upon him, would not have said: “Improve your characters!” How could such a denial with respect to the human creature be made? It is possible to improve the character even of an animal; a falcon can be transformed from savagery to tameness; a dog from mere greed for food to good behavior and self restraint, a horse from defiance to docility and obedience, and all of these things constitute a change in character. Of course, temperaments vary; some accept this thing rapidly, while others do not. There are two reasons for this disparity. Firstly, there is the power of the instinct (ghariza), which lies at the root of one’s temperament, together with the length of time for, which it has been present; the capacities for desire, anger and pride are all present in the human creature; however the most difficult to deal with and the least susceptible to change is that of desire, which is the oldest capacity in man. For it is the first thing to be created in a child, to be followed, perhaps after seven years, by anger, and finally, the power of discretion. The second reason is that a trait of character may be reinforced as a result of acting frequently in accordance with it and obeying it, and considering it to be fine and satisfactory. The other illusory notion, which is adduced is the statement that anger, desire, worldliness and the other traits of this kind cannot be torn from the human creature for as long as he lives. This is also an error, into, which a faction has fallen, which imagines that the purpose of spiritual struggle is the complete suppression and effacement of these attributes. Such a view is absurd, for desire has been created for a purpose, and is an indispensable part of human nature; should the desire for food cease man would die, should the desire for sexual intercourse cease man would die out; and should man feel no anger he would not be able to defend himself from those things, which threaten his life. When the basis of desire remains, the love of property must necessarily remain also, which encourages one to guard it. What is required is not the total extirpation of these things, but rather the restoration of their balance and moderation, which is the middle point between excess and defect. With regard to the trait of anger, what is needed is sound ardor, which lies in the avoidance of both recklessness and cowardice, and generally to be strong in oneself but nevertheless under the control of the intellect. It is for this reason that Allah, the Almighty has said: “…Those who are with him are harsh against the unbelievers but merciful to one another…” (Ch. 48 verse 29), describing the believers as ‘harsh’; harsh can only arise from anger, and were there to be no anger, there could be no Jihad against the unbelievers. And how could one intend to uproot anger and desire entirely when the Prophets themselves were not divested of them? The Messenger of Allah, praise and peace be upon him, once said: “I am only a man, and, like other men, I become angry.” He would become so angry that his cheeks would be flushed, although he would never say anything but the truth, from, which anger never caused him to diverge. A General Exposition on the Means by, which Good Character may be Acquired You have come to know that goodness of character proceeds from an equilibrium in the rational faculty brought about through sound wisdom, and in the irascible and appetitive faculties through their submission to the intellect and the Law. This equilibrium may come about in two ways. One of these is through Divine grace, and completeness of innate disposition (kamal fitri), whereby a man is born and created with a sound intellect and a good character, and is preserved from the powers of desire and anger, which are created in him moderate and submissive to the intellect and the Law. Thus he becomes learned without an instructor, and disciplined without being subject to any discipline, in the manner of Jesus, the son of Mary; and John, the son of Zachariah, and all the other Prophets (may be blessings of Allah be upon them all). Yet it is not to be deemed improbable that certain things should exist in a man’s nature and disposition, which can be obtained through acquisition: some children are created truthful, generous and courageous, while in others the opposite characteristics have been set, so that (in this case) good qualities can only be acquired through habituation and associating with those who possess them, and also through education. The second is the acquisition of these traits of character by means of spiritual struggle and exercise. By this I mean the constraining of the soul to perform the actions, which necessarily proceed from the trait desired. For example, a man who wishes to acquire the quality of generosity must oblige himself to do generous things; that is, to give of what he owns, and must continue in this wise, affecting this thing and struggling with his soul until his nature conforms to it and it becomes easy, at, which point he will have become a generous person. Similarly in the case of the man dominated by arrogance who wishes to inculcate in his soul the quality of modesty; he should persist for a lengthy period in imitating the behavior of the modest and struggling against his soul until such behavior becomes one of his traits and part of his nature, at, which time it will come easily. Ali said: “Faith appears in the heart as a white gleam. As faith grows, so does its whiteness, until, when the worshiper’s faith is complete, the whiteness covers his entire heart. And hypocrisy appears as a black speck, the blackness of, which grows in proportion to it, until, when the hypocrisy becomes complete, the heart becomes entirely black.” An Exposition on the Way in, which a Man may Discover the Faults in his Soul Know that when Allah, the Almighty wishes His worshiper well, He grants him insight in the faults, which lie in his soul. The faults of a man of perfect insight are never hidden from him, and whosoever knows his faults is in a position to treat them. Most people, however, are ignorant of the faults of their souls, and might see the splinter in their brother’s eye but not the beam, which lies in their own. There are four ways by, which the man who would know the faults of his soul may do so. Firstly, he should sit before a Shaykh who has insight into these faults and hidden weaknesses, and put him in authority over his soul, and follow the instructions he gives in connection with his struggle therewith, as is the place of the aspirant with his Shaykh; this latter will ascertain these faults, and explain to him the method by, which they should be treated. However such a man is hardly to be found in this age. Secondly, he may seek out a rue, perceptive and religious friend, and appoint him to be the overseer of his soul, so that he notes his circumstances and deeds, and brings to his attention the inner and external faults, acts and traits, which he finds dislikable in him. This was the practice of the wise men and great leaders of the Faith: Umar used to say: “May Allah grant His mercy to a man who shows me my faults.” It was for this reason that Daud al’Ta’I renounced all human company, and said, when asked why: “What can I do with people who hide my faults from me?” It was ever the desire of religious people to discover their faults through being told of them by others; however, things have come to such a state with us that the most hateful of all people are those who counsel us and draw our attention to our defects. Thirdly, the way is to know the faults of one’s soul by listening to the statements of one’s enemies, for a hostile eye brings out defects; it may happen that a man gains more from an enemy and a foe who reminds him of his faults than from a dissimulating friend who praises and speaks highly of him, and hides from him his faults. Fourthly, the way is to mingle with people, and to attribute to oneself every blameworthy thing, which one sees in them. For ‘the believers are mirrors to one another.’ Jesus was once asked: “Who taught you?” “I was taught by no one,” he replied. “I perceived the ignorance of the ignorant man, and avoided it.” An Exposition on the Signs of Good Character Know that every man is at first ignorant of the faults, which lie in his soul. When he comes to struggle with it, even in the least degree, until he has abandoned the grosser transgressions, he may think to himself that he has refined his soul and made good his character, and may now dispense with any further struggle. It is therefore essential to explain what are the signs of good character, since good character is equivalent to faith, and bad character to hypocrisy. Allah, the Almighty has made mention in His Book of the traits, which characterize believers and hypocrites, which are all the fruits of good or bad character. We shall now set forth some of these texts so that you may come to know the sign by, which good character may be recognized. Allah, the Almighty has said: “Prosperous are the believers, who are humble in their prayers; who turn away from idle talk; who give charity, who guard their privates, except with their wives and what their right hand possess, and then they are not blamed. Those who seek beyond that are transgressors. (Prosperous are those) who preserve their trusts and pledges and those who observe their prayers. Those are the heirs who will inherit Paradise; they shall live there for ever. (Ch. 23:1-11) And He has said: “Those who repent, those who worship Allah and praise (Him); those who journey, those who bow, those who prostrate themselves; those who order righteousness and forbid evil, and those who observe the limits of Allah give glad tidings to the believers.” (Ch. 9 verse 112) And He has said: “Indeed the believers are those whose hearts quake at the mention of Allah, and when His verses are recited to them it increased them in faith. They are those who put their trust in their Lord. Those who pray steadfastly, and spend of that which We have provided them, those are, in truth, the believers..…” (Ch. 8 verses 2-4)