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AlGhazalisIhya-Book_of_Discipline_of_the_Soul_Character_Sick, page : 15
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
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