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AlGhazalisIhya-Book_of_knowledge, page : 58
mercy – these and many similar qualities of the heart are the seed beds of
immoralities and the nursery gardens of turpitudes.
The opposite of these, namely the praiseworthy traits, are the fountainhead of all
good works. To know the definitions of these traits, the truth concerning each, the
means whereby they are attained as well as their fruits and cures comprises the
sciences of the Hereafter whose acquisition, according to the legal opinion of the
learned men of that science is fard ayn. Whoever should turn away from this
knowledge, would, in the Hereafter, be destroyed by the wrath of the King of
Kings, just as he who fail to perform the civil duties would, according to the legal
opinion of the jurists of this world, be cut down by the sword of the temporal
rulers of this world. The judgment of the jurists concerning obligatory ordinances
(furud ayn) relates to the welfare of the life in this world, while the judgment of the
learned men of the science of the Hereafter relates to the welfare of life in the
Hereafter. Thus if a jurist were asked concerning the meaning of any of these
terms, as for example: sincerity, or dependence, or precaution against hypocrisy,
he would hesitate to express an opinion although every one of these is an
obligatory ordinance in whose neglect lies his own destruction in the Hereafter.
immoralities and the nursery gardens of turpitudes.
The opposite of these, namely the praiseworthy traits, are the fountainhead of all
good works. To know the definitions of these traits, the truth concerning each, the
means whereby they are attained as well as their fruits and cures comprises the
sciences of the Hereafter whose acquisition, according to the legal opinion of the
learned men of that science is fard ayn. Whoever should turn away from this
knowledge, would, in the Hereafter, be destroyed by the wrath of the King of
Kings, just as he who fail to perform the civil duties would, according to the legal
opinion of the jurists of this world, be cut down by the sword of the temporal
rulers of this world. The judgment of the jurists concerning obligatory ordinances
(furud ayn) relates to the welfare of the life in this world, while the judgment of the
learned men of the science of the Hereafter relates to the welfare of life in the
Hereafter. Thus if a jurist were asked concerning the meaning of any of these
terms, as for example: sincerity, or dependence, or precaution against hypocrisy,
he would hesitate to express an opinion although every one of these is an
obligatory ordinance in whose neglect lies his own destruction in the Hereafter.