Al-Akhlâq wa’l-Siyar (Morals and Behaviour)
In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
IV) Morals and Behaviour 56. Take care to have a reputation of being a man of good
intention. Beware of gaining reputation of being devious or people will avoid you more and
more and you will finish by being harmed or even lost. 57. Train yourself to think about the things that frighten you. If
they come to pass, you will not be so worried by them. You will not lose anything by
growing accustomed to the thought of them, and your pleasure will be greater or even
doubled if something nice or unexpected happens. 58. When worries multiply, they will all fall to the ground. [A way
out will be found.] 59. A deceitful man may occasionally keep his word to a lucky man, and
a faithful man may occasionally betray an unlucky man.[1] Happy is he who in this world is not
obliged by fate to put his friends to the test. 60. Do not worry about a man who wishes you ill. If fortune favours
you he is lost and your luck will protect you. If fortune does not favour you then anyone
can harm you. 61. Blessed is the man who knows his own faults better than others
know them. 62. Patience in the face of others insolence is of three kinds:
patience with someone who has power over you when you have none over him; patience with
someone you have power over when he has none over you; finally patience with someone when
neither of you has power over the other. The first kind is humiliating and degrading; it
is not a virtue. The advice for someone who is afraid of such an intolerable situation
would be to abandon everything and run away. The second kind is a virtue, it is
charitable, it is the true meekness which characterizes virtuous souls. The third sort
consists of two kinds. The insolence may arise from a misunderstanding or from fear, and
the one at fault may realize the ugliness of his act and regret it. To be patient with him
would be a virtue and an obligation; this is true magnanimity. But with a person who
overestimates his own value and is proud and arrogant and feels no regret for his action,
to tolerate this is humiliating, it encourages the wrongdoer in his wrongdoing, because he
will act even more violently and it would be stupid to respond in the same way. The wisest
course of action is to let him know that you could fight back but that you are refraining
from doing so because he is beneath contempt and unworthy of your attention. No more is
necessary. As for the insolent behaviour of the lower classes, the only remedy is to
punish it. 63. Anyone who mingles with the crowd is never short of worries to
pain him, or sins to regret on the day when he will return to God, or anger to give him a
pain in the liver [heart],[2]
or humiliation to make him hang his head. Then what shall I say about someone who is
intimate with people and always in their company? Solitude is where you will find dignity,
repose, happiness and security. You should treat company like a fire: warm yourself but do
not fall in. [“You may draw near but without going right in.”] 64. If the company of the people had only two following faults, that
would be enough to keep us away: the first is letting out vital secrets during a friendly
meeting, secrets which otherwise would never have been revealed. The second is showing
off, putting our immortality in mortal peril. There is no other escape from these two
trials than to withdraw into absolute solitude, far from people altogether. 65. Do not put off to tomorrow what you can do today. If you recognize
this obligation you will make haste to do today even very small preparations for tomorrow,
for if a small number of tasks are left to mount up they become a great number. In fact
they have become too many to do and the whole enterprise will be wrecked. 66. Do not despise any of the actions that you hope to see counted in
your favour on the Day of Resurrection. By doing them now, even in small measure, these
actions will eventually outweigh the number of your sins which would otherwise add up to
sufficient reason to throw you into hellfire. 67. With depression, poverty, misfortune and fear, the pain is only
felt by the sufferer. People looking at them from the outside have no idea what they are
like. On the other hand, with false judgment, shame and sin, only the onlooker sees how
horrible they are! The person who is sunk deep in them does not perceive this. 68. Security, health and wealth are only appreciated by a person who
does not have them. Anyone who has them does not appreciate them. On the other hand, a
sound judgment and virtue, working towards eternity, their value is known only to those
who share in them. Anyone who has no share in them has no knowledge of what they are like. 69. The first person to break with a deceiver is the one who the
deceiver has deceived. The first person to detest a false witness is the person whom the
false witness supported. The first person to despise an adulterous woman is the man who
caused her to commit adultery. 70. As far as we know, nothing can be degraded and then resume its
natural state without a great trouble and difficulty. What can we say about the man whose
head is poisoned by intoxication every night. Indeed, a mind which drives its master
towards its own deprivation every night must be a mind condemned. 71. The highway [or a long journey] is fatiguing, a quiet retreat is
restorative. Too much wealth makes for greed. A small fortune makes for contentment. 72. The plans of an intelligent man may go wrong. The plans of a
stupid man never go right. 73. Nothing is more harmful to a governor than to be surrounded by a
great number of unemployed people. A prudent ruler knows how to keep them busy without
being unfair to them, otherwise they will overwhelm him with petty matters. Anyone who invites his enemies to come closer to him is suicidal. 74. Anyone who sees an important person too often regards him as less
eminent and less important. 75. Parading, putting on, for example, a severe and discontented air,
this is the veil with which ignorant people who have risen in the world try to cover their
ignorance. 76. A wise man should not delude himself about friendship which
started when he was in power, because everyone was his friend then. 77. The best person to help you in your affairs is someone with equal
interest in their success. Do not get anyone to help you who would be just as well off
elsewhere. 78. Do not respond to talk which is brought by someone on the part of
a third person, unless you are sure that the latter did say it, because the one who
brought lies to you will go away carrying the truth [the unpleasant truth which you will
have told him and which he will hawk around]. 79. Put your trust in a pious man, even if the religion that he
practises is a different one from your own. Do not put your trust in anyone who scorns
sacred things, even if he claims to belong to your own religion. As for a man who defies
the commandments of the Almighty, do not ever trust him with anything you care greatly
about. 80. I have noticed that people are more generous with their opinions
than with their pennies. In my long study of this matter, this has never been disproved
despite of countless observations. Since I cannot understand the cause of this, I suppose
it must be innate in human nature. 81. It is the height of injustice to deny to habitual wrongdoer the
opportunity of doing an occasional good deed. 82. When you get rid of one enemy you see a great many others
advancing. 83. I have never seen anything more lifelike than the shadow-theatre
with its little actors mounted on wooden handles that are turned rapidly so that some
disappear and others appear.[3] 84. For a long time I have been thinking about death. I had certain
dear friends, as closely bound to me by the bonds of sincere affection as the soul is
bound to the body. After they died, some of them appeared to me in dreams. Others did not.
While one of the latter was alive, we had each promised to visit the other in a dream
after we had died, if at all possible. But I have not seen him at all since he preceded me
into the other world. I do not know whether he has forgotten or been engaged. 85. The oblivion of the soul who forgets the state it was in in the
world of temptation [its first abode] while waiting for the resurrection of the body [to
enter the body] is like the oblivion of someone who has fallen into mud and has sunk [all
his promises] together with everything which he knew before and which was familiar to him.
I have also reflected for a long time about this matter, and it seems to be that there is
another possible explanation in addition to the one just mentioned. I have studied a
sleeping person at the moment when his soul leaves his body, and his senses sharpen to the
point of being able to see the unseen; the soul forgets completely, absolutely, the state
which it was in just a moment before falling asleep, although it was so recent. The soul knows other states in which it is endowed with memory and
feelings, it can be pleased, it can be hurt. The joys of sleep are felt even during the
sleep, for the sleeper feels happy, he dreams, he is afraid, he is sad even in his sleep. 86. The soul is not happy except in the company of a soul. The body is
heavy and wearying. This is proved by the haste with which one buries the body of a loved
one when the soul has departed from it, and by the sorrow caused by the disappearance of
the soul although the corpse is still there. 87. I have never seen Satan use a worse trick, or an uglier or a more
foolish one, than when he puts two phrases onto the tongues of those who follow him. The
first is when someone excuses his own evil deed by alleging that someone has done the same
to him. The second is when someone makes light of doing evil today because he did evil
yesterday, or he does wrong in one sense because he has already done it in another. These
two phrases excuse and facilitate evil-doing; they bring it into the arena of what is
acceptable, tolerable and not to be criticized. 88. Be mistrustful if you are able to be sufficiently careful and
cautious, but if you cannot check on them you will have to trust people. This will bring
you peace of mind. 89. The definition of generosity, the supreme objective of generosity,
is to give away the entire surplus of your possessions in charitable works. The best
charitable work is to bring relief to a neighbour in need, a poor relation, a man who has
lost his own possessions and is close to ruin. Anyone who holds on to this superfluous
money without spending it in one of these ways is an example of miserliness. And he should
be praised and criticized in proportion to whether he is more or less generous in this
way. Anything given to causes which are not these charitable ones is squandered, and the
action is blameworthy. It is virtuous to give to someone in greater need part of what you
need to keep alive; this is a nobler act of self sacrifice than plain generosity is. To
keep what you need is neither praiseworthy nor blameworthy but simply fair. To carry out
ones obligations is a duty; to give away surplus food is generosity. To forget
yourself and to give away food as long as you will not starve yourself is a virtue. To
hinder anyone against performing his duty is against the Law. To refuse to give away the
leftovers of our food is greedy and extremely miserly. To refuse to deprive yourself in
order to give away part of your food which you need is excusable. To deprive yourself of
food, and to deprive your family to any extent, is ignoble, vile and criminal. To be
generous with property which you have acquired by unfair means is to aggravate the evil
already committed, and it should be rewarded with criticism, not praise, since you are in
fact giving away someone elses property, not your own. To give people their rightful
part of your possessions is not generosity; it is a duty. 90. The definition of courage is to fight to the death in defense of
religion, in defense of womanhood, of ill treated neighbours, of the oppressed who seek
protection, or in defense of a lost fortune, honour which has been attacked, and other
rights, against all adversaries, whether they be few or many. To do less than this would
be cowardliness and weakness. To use up ones courage in fighting for the vanities of
the world would be stupid recklessness. But it is even more stupid to devote your courage
to fighting against right and duty, either in your own interest or for others. And even
more stupid than all these, there are men whom I have seen who do not know to what cause
to devote themselves; sometimes they fight Zayd on Amrs account, and sometimes they
fight Amr on Zayds account, sometimes both in the same day, exposing themselves
needlessly to danger, hurtling towards hellfire or running towards dishonour. About such
people the Messenger of Allâh (peace be upon him) has warned: “There will come a
time for men when the one who kills will not know why he has killed, and his victim will
not know why he was killed.” 91. The definition of continence is to turn away ones glance and
all ones organs of sense from forbidden objects. Everything other than this is
debauchery. Anyone who goes further, and forbids himself what the Almighty has made
lawful, is weak and powerless. 92. The definition of justice is to give spontaneously what is due and
to know how to take what is your right. The definition of injustice is to take ones
due and not to give others their due. The definition of nobility of soul is to give
spontaneously and with a good heart what is due to others, and to allow them their rights
willingly; this is also virtue. All generosity is noble and virtuous, but not every noble
act and every virtue is generous. Virtue is a more general term; generosity is more
specific. Magnanimity is a virtue without being generosity. Virtue is a general
prescription to which one adds a specific action. 93. One hour of neglect can undo a year of pious effort. 94. In the course of affairs, a mistake made by an individual is
better than a just policy followed by the whole assembly of Muslims if they are not
grouped under the leadership of one man. This is because the individuals mistake can
be put right, but the correct views of the Muslim assembly will lead them to ignore
something that may have been wrong, and they will be lost because of it. 95. In times of civil war, the blossom does not set fruit. 96. I myself had faults, and I tried continually to correct them, by
discipline, by studying the words of the Prophets (may they be blessed) and also the words
of the most virtuous sages among the ancients who are more advanced in morality and
self-discipline, until God helped me overcome most of my faults, thanks to His guidance
and grace. It is an act of perfect virtue, of self-discipline, a sign that one
controls the truth, to confess such faults in order that one day someone may learn from
them, if God wills. 97. One of my faults was that I tended to an extreme of
self-satisfaction when I was in the right and an extreme bad temper when I was in the
wrong. Ever seeking to cure myself of this, I decided that I would never again display any
irritations in my remarks, my actions or my discussions. I renounced every kind of triumph
that is not permitted, and I suffered under the heavy burden of this decision. I had
enough patience to bear a dreadful affliction which nearly made me sick and an invalid.
But I was not capable of overcoming my passion always to be in the right. It almost seemed
that I did not really think this a fault, that I did not really think I should give up
this attitude. 98. Another fault I had was an ungovernable propensity for sarcasm.
What I decided to do about this was to refrain from anything that might irritate the
person I was talking to. But I did allow myself to crack jokes, feeling that not to do so
would have been narrow-minded and almost arrogant. 99. Another fault: extreme pride. My mind wrangled with my soul,
knowing my defects, and argued so long and so successfully that my pride vanished
completely, leaving no trace, thanks be to God. Moreover, I set myself to despise myself
absolutely and to be a model of humility. 100. Another of my defects was that I suffered from trembling caused
by my youthfulness and the weakness of my limbs. I forced myself to make it stop, and it
disappeared. 101. Another fault: a love of great fame and glory. To deal with this
defect. I decided to renounce everything which is forbidden by religion, God helping with
the rest, since if the soul remains under the control of reason even its irritability can
become a virtue and be regarded as a praiseworthy disposition. 102. I used to feel extreme repugnance for the company of women on any
occasion, and this made me difficult to get on with. I seem to have been struggling for
ever against this immoderate feeling, which I know to be bad from the problems it has
caused me. God help me. 103. I had two faults which the Almighty has kept private and helped
me to fight and overcome by His goodness. One has completely disappeared, all praise to
Him for this. In this case, good luck seems to have been on my side: as soon as this fault
rears its head I hasten to stifle it. But the other fault has tormented me for a long
time. When its waves came sweeping over me, my veins would throb and this fault would be
on the point of reappearing; but God has allowed me to hold back by one of the
manifestations of His goodness and it has now disappeared. 104. I used to persist in bearing extreme grudges; I have been enabled
to conceal and hide this with the help of the Almighty and to avoid the manifestation of
all its effects. But I have never been able to stamp it out completely, nor have I ever
found it possible to make friends with anyone who has acted in a truly hostile way towards
me. 105. Mistrust itself is regarded by some as an absolute fault. This is
not so, unless it leads the person who feels it to commit deeds not allowed by religion,
or to adopt behaviour which is unsocial. In other cases mistrust can be steadfastness, and
steadfastness is a virtue. 106. As for the reproach made to me by ignorant adversaries who say
that I put no value on anyone who disagrees with me when I believe that I am in the right,
and that I would never act in concert with the ones I contradict even if they amounted to
the entire human population on the face of the earth, and that I place no value on
conforming with the people of my country in many of the customs or costume which they have
adopted for no particular reason[4]
this independence is a quality which I regard as one of my most important virtues.
There is nothing equal to it, and, upon my life, if I did not possess it (God forbid), it
would be this that I most longed for, and hoped for, and prayed for to God Almighty. In
fact, my advice to all who may hear my words is to behave in the same way. There is no
benefit to be had from copying other people if their actions are vain and pointless. By
doing so one annoys the Almighty, and disappoints ones mind [deludes oneself],
causes suffering to ones soul and body, and takes upon ones shoulders an
unnecessary yoke. 107. A man who knows nothing of the truth has reproached me for not
caring about wrongs done to me, or even wrongs done to my friends, so that I do not even
get annoyed if they are wronged in my presence. 108. My reply would be that anyone who has described me like that was
speaking too hastily and needs to be more precise. When one speaks hastily one slips into
using language that makes the bad not so bad and the good not so good: for example,
“So-and-so is sleeping with his sister,” would be an abominable thing to say and
would horrify everyone who heard it, but if you explained that it is a matter of
“his
sister in Islâm”, it would be clear that it was hasty speaking that created the
indecent and ugly aspect of the matter. 109. For myself, if I pretended not to feel hurt when I am attacked by
someone, I should not be telling the truth, for it is natural to feel hurt in such a case,
it is only human. But I have forced myself to show neither anger nor bad temper nor fury.
I manage to hold back an angry answer by preparing myself in advance, then I do so, thanks
to the strength and power of Almighty God. But if I have no time to prepare myself, I
restrict myself to retaliating with cutting phrases, but not insults, and I attempt to say
only what is true, and to express myself without anger or cruelty. I detest doing even
this, except when it is absolutely necessary, for example when I wish to stop the spread
of a false rumour, for most people love to pass on, to anyone who will listen, hateful
tidbits of gossip (which they attribute to a third person), and nothing will stop them so
effectively as this course of action. It stops them touting around calumnies which they
attribute to others, and which serve no purpose except to corrupt consciences and to
spread slander only. 110. Furthermore, as for the man who is wronging me, there are two
possibilities and two only. Either he is lying or telling the truth. If he is lying, then
God will surely make haste to allow me to refute him by his own tongue, for this man will
go the way of all liars and will draw attention to my merit by falsely imputing bad things
to me - for, late or soon, this will become clear to most of those who listen to him. If
he is telling the truth, there are three possibilities and only one can be true. Perhaps I
had been his associate in some business and had confided in him as one does with someone
one relies on and trusts, and he would then be the most despicable sneak: I hardly need
say more about such base villainy. Or, perhaps he may be criticizing in me something which
he regards as a fault and which in fact is not. His ignorance is enough to make this
oblivious; it is he who should be accused, and not the one who he has criticized. Or,
finally, he may be accusing me of a fault which I really do have. Having perceived one of
my faults, he has let his tongue wag about it. If he is telling the truth, I deserve more
blame than he does. In that case, I should be angry with myself, not with my critic, who
is justified in his criticism. 111. As for my friends, I have not forbidden myself to defend them.
But I do it gently, contenting myself with persuading the person who has slandered them in
my presence to repent, urging him to reproach himself, to apologize, to feel ashamed, to
take back what he said. I achieve this my following the method which consists of blaming
the slanderers and telling them that it would be better to mind their own business and put
their own houses in order rather than track down the faults of others; I go to recall the
merits of my friend, reproaching the critic for limiting himself to recalling his faults
without mentioning his virtues, and saying to him, “He would never speak like that
about you. He has a more generous spirit than you, and that is what you would not
accept,” or something similar. As for attacking the speaker, annoying him, irritating
him, making him angry, in this way pushing him to increase the insults to my friend which
I so dislike, this would make me guilty towards my friend because it would expose him to
coarse and repeated insults which would be spread to the ears of those who had not heard
them before and would give rise to further slander. Perhaps this would make me just as
guilty towards myself, which would not suit my friend, because I should suffer insult and
injury. For myself, I would not want my friend to defend me beyond the limits I have
outlined. If he goes further, to attack him, or even my father, my mother and his own
parents, depending on how insolent and impudent the one who started it is. They might even
come to blows, I should scorn him, because he had brought this upon me; I certainly would
not be grateful to him. On the contrary I should be extremely cross with him. God help us! 112. A man of prejudice who never stops to think has accused me of
squandering my fortune. This is more hasty talk, which I would explain as follows: I only
squander the portion which it would be against my religion to keep or would cast aspersion
on my honour or would fatigue me. I consider that what I avoid of these three evils,
however small, far outweighs the amount of fortune lost, even if it amounted to everything
that the sun shines on. 113. The best gift that God can give His servant is to endow him with
justice and a love of justice, with truth and a love of truth [equity] above all else. To
stamp out my evil tendencies, to do everything which is good according to religion and to
the world, I have done only what I could. There is no strength and power except in God the
Almighty. On the other hand, a man who has a natural tendency towards injustice and who
finds it easy to act unjustly, a man who has tendency to transgress and enjoys doing it,
let him despair of ever improving or of amending his nature. Let him realize that he will
not succeed, either in religion or in good conduct. 114. As for vanity, envy, falsehood and treachery, I have absolutely
no experience of them from my nature. It seems that I have no merit for avoiding them
since all my being spurns them. Thanks for this be rendered to God, Lord of the Worlds. 115. One of the defects of the love of renown is that it cancels out
the value of good deeds, if the man performing them likes them to be spoken of. This makes
him almost impious because he is working for something other than for God. This defect
removes all the value from virtues because the man affected by it is hardly trying at all
to do good for the sake of good, but for love of renown. 116. There is no worse blame than that of a man who praises a quality
in you that you do not have, thereby drawing closer to its absence. 117. There is no better praise than that of a man who reproaches you
for a fault that you do not have, thereby drawing attention to your merit, and he gives
you your revenge on him by exposing himself to rebuttal and the reproach of having
slandered you. 118. If one knew ones imperfections one would be perfect. Since
no creature is exempt from faults, happy the man whose defects are few and unimportant. 119. The thing that happens most often is something unexpected.
Steadfastness consists of preparing yourself for as much as can be foreseen. Glory be to
the One who has so arranged it in order to show to mankind mans powerlessness and
his need for his Creator, the Almighty.
[1] French translation is too free here. It misunderstands the Arabic word majdûd as mahdûd.
[2] Ibn Hazms text states clearly that he has been told that the spleen is the seat of both good and bad temper. He may have this idea from reading the works of Ibn Qutayba (died 276 AH, 889 CE), who reported it from Wahb Ibn Munabbih, who in his turn ascribed it to the Torah. God created man from the four elements water, earth, fire and air; wet, dry, hot and cold. God then gave him a mind in his head, covetousness in his kidneys, anger is his liver, determination in his heart, fear and terror in his lungs, emotions, laughter and tears in his spleen, his happiness and sadness in his face, and in the human body he made 360 joints. This is a medical matter which may be true but it is for doctors to say. See Abû Muhammad Abd Allâh Ibn Muslim Ibn Qutayba, Uyûn al Akhbâr, (Cairo, al-Muasasa al-Misriya al-Ama lil Talif n.d.) vol.2, p.62.
Maintainers note: I think it would be feasible to quote a athar (narration) of Alî ibn Abî Tâlib as I think it is a more accurate stance on this matter: Ayyâd ibn Khalîfah said that, during the battle of Siffîn, he heard Alî (R) say, “Indeed, the intellect is in the heart, mercy in the liver, pity in the spleen, and the soul/self in the lungs.” [Reported by Bukhârî in Adab ul Mufrad (Hadîth # 547)]
[3] This is an important historical reference to shadow-theatres in al-Andalus in the time of Ibn Hazm. c.f. Ibn Hazm, al-Fisal, vol.1, p.110 and vol.5, p.6; also al-Tâhir Makkîs note on the above passage.
[4] Nothing in the French translation about costume.