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AlGhazalisIhya-Book_of_Discipline_of_the_Soul_Character_Sick, page : 5
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
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