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AlGhazalisIhya-Book_of_Discipline_of_the_Soul_Character_Sick, page : 4
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 .”
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 .”