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AlGhazalisIhya-Book_of_Discipline_of_the_Soul_Character_Sick, page : 10
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
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