Al-Akhlâq wa’l-Siyar (Morals and Behaviour)
In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
III) Knowledge 31. If knowledge had no other merit than to make the ignorant
fear and respect you, and scholars love and honour you, this would be good enough reason
to seek after it. Let alone all its other merits in this world and the next! 32. If ignorance had no other fault than to make the ignorant man
jealous of knowledgeable men and jubilant at seeing more people like himself, this by
itself would be a reason enough to oblige us to flee it. Let alone the other bad results
of this evil in this world and the next! 33. If knowledge and the action of devoting oneself to it had no
purpose except to free the man who seeks it from the exhausting anxieties and many worries
which afflict the mind, that alone would certainly be enough to drive us to seek
knowledge. But what should we say of the other benefits too numerous to list, the least of
which are the above-mentioned, and all of which accrue to the knowledgeable man. In search
of benefits as small as these the petty kings have worn themselves out in seeking
distraction from their anxieties in game of chess, dicing, wine, song, hunting expeditions
and other pastimes which bring nothing but harm in this world and the next and absolutely
no benefit. 34. If the scholar who has spent long peaceful hours [at his studies]
stopped to think how his knowledge has protected him against humiliation at the hands of
the ignorant, and against anxiety about unknown truths, and what joy it has brought him by
enabling him to solve problems which others find insoluble, he would certainly increase
his expressions of gratitude to Allâh and rejoice more in the knowledge that he has and
desire even more to add to it. 35. Anyone who spends his time studying something inferior, abandoning
higher studies of which he is capable, is like someone who sows corn in a field capable of
growing wheat, or who plants bushes in a soil which could support palm trees and olives. 36. To spread knowledge among those incapable of understanding it
would be as harmful as giving honey and sugary confections to someone with a fever, or
giving musk and amber to someone with a migraine caused by an excess of bile. 37. A man who is a miser with his knowledge is worse than a man who is
a miser with his money, for the money-miser is afraid of using up what he possesses but
the knowledge-miser is being mean with something which does not get used up and is not
lost when it is given away. 38. Anyone who has a natural inclination towards a branch of
knowledge, even if it is inferior to other branches, should not abandon it, or he would be
like someone who plants coconuts in al-Andalus or olive trees in India where neither would
produce fruit. 39. The most noble branches of knowledge are those which bring you
close to the Creator and help you to be pleasing to Him. 40. When you compare yourself with others in matters of wealth,
position, and health, you should look at people less favoured than yourself. When you
compare yourself with others in matters of religion, knowledge and virtue, look at people
who are better than yourself. 41. The mysterious branches of knowledge are like a strong drug which
benefits a strong body but damages a weak one. In the same way, the esoteric branches of
knowledge enrich a strong mind, and refine it, purifying it of its flaws, but destroy a
weak mind. 42. If a madman threw himself as deeply into good sense as he throws
himself as deeply into madness, he would surely be wiser than al-Hasan al-Basrî[1], Plato of Athens[2] and Vuzurgmihr the Persian.[3] 43. Intelligence has its limits; it is useless unless it is based upon
the guidance of religion or on good fortune in this world. 44. Do not harm your soul by experimenting with corrupt views in order
to demonstrate their corruption to someone who has consulted you, otherwise you will lose
your soul. If you shield yourself from acting in a detestable way, any criticism that can
be thrown at you by a man of corrupt beliefs because you disagree with him is better than
his respect and better than the bad effect on both of you if you committed these
detestable acts. 45. Guard against taking pleasure in any way that will harm your soul
and is not required of you by the religious law nor by virtue. 46. Knowledge no longer exists if one has ignored the attributes of
the Almighty Great Creator. 47. There is no worse calamity for knowledge and for scholars than
when outsiders intrude. They are ignorant and think they are knowledgeable; they ruin
everything and believe that they are helping. 48. Anyone who is seeking happiness in the Hereafter, wisdom in this
world, the best way to behave, the sum of all moral qualities, the practice of all the
virtues, should take as his model Muhammad, the Prophet of God God grant him
blessings and peace and emulate as far as possible the Prophets morals and
behaviour. May God help us to take him as an example, by His grace, amen [amen]! 49. The ignorant have annoyed me on two occasions in my lifetime.
First, when they spoke of things they did not know, at a time when I was equally ignorant;
the second time when they kept silent in my presence [in the days when I had learnt
something]. In the same way they were always silent about matters which would have
benefited them to speak about, and spoke about matters which brought them no benefit. 50. Scholars have brought me pleasure on two occasions in my lifetime:
first, they taught me when I was ignorant; the second time was when they conversed with me
after I had been taught. 51. One of the merits of religious knowledge and asceticism in this
world is that Almighty God does not put it within the reach of anyone except those who are
worthy of it and deserve it. One of the disadvantages of the great things of this world,
wealth and fame, is that they mostly fall to the lot of people who are unworthy of them
and do not deserve them. 52. Anyone who is seeking after virtue should keep company with the
virtuous and should take no companion with him on his way except the noblest friend, one
of those people who is sympathetic, charitable, truthful, sociable, patient, trustworthy,
loyal, magnanimous, pure in conscience and a true friend. 53. Anyone who is seeking fame, fortune and pleasure will keep company
only with those people who resemble mad dogs and sly foxes: they will take for their
travelling companions only people [inimical to his belief] who are cunning and depraved in
nature. 54. The usefulness of the knowledge [of good] in the practice of
virtue is considerable: anyone who knows the beauty of virtue will practise it, though it
may be rarely. Knowing the ugliness of vice, he will avoid it, though it may be rarely.
The man with knowledge of good will listen to soundly-based praise and desire it for
himself. He will listen to talk of evil and desire to avoid it. From this premise it
necessarily follows that knowledge has a part in every virtue, and ignorance has a part in
every vice. A man who has had no instruction in the knowledge [of good] will not practise
virtue unless he has an extremely pure nature, a virtuous constitution. It is the
particular state of the Prophets (peace and the blessings of God be upon them!) for God
has taught them virtue in its entirety, without them having learnt it from men. 55. It is true that I have seen among the common people some who, by
their excellent behaviour and morals, were not surpassed by any wise man, any scholarly,
self-controlled man. But this is very rare. And I have seen men who have studied the
different branches of knowledge, who have a good knowledge of the messages of the Prophets
- peace be upon them - and the advice of the philosophers and who nevertheless surpass the
most wicked in their bad behaviour, their depravity, both internal and external. * These
are the worst of all creatures.* This is very common and I therefore perceive that these
two [moral attitudes] are a favour which is granted or withheld by Allâh the Almighty. Notes: [1] Al-Hasan al-Basrî (100 AH, 718 CE) is a great Muslim
traditionalist and [maintainers note: supposedly] Sufi ascetic. In the history
of Islâm he looms large for his literary writings and moral sayings. See Ibn Khallikân, Wafayât
(Cairo, Bulaq) vol. 1, p. 227. He was born and lived in Basra, southern Iraq. [2] Plato, the famous Greek philosopher, d. 347 BC,
disciple of Socrates, visited Egypt and lived there for one year and learned before
Egyptian wise men in Ayn Shams. Jamâl al Dîn Abű al-Hasan al-Qaftî, Târikh
al-Hukamâ, ed. by Julius Lippert (Leipzig, 1903) p. 16, also Abű Sulaymân
al-Mantiqî al-Sijistânî, Siwan al-Hikma wa Thalâth Rasâil, ed. by A.
Badawî, Tehran, 1974) pp. 84; 128FF. [3] Vuzurgmihr was the minister of the ancient Persian
king Khusrau Nushirwan, and his sons tutor. He is famous for his wise sayings, which
are often quoted in Arabic sources, and he is said to have been the first to translate the
Indian text Kalila wa Dimna into the Persian language.