12. MANAGE THE INTELLECT
Many of those in positions of authority and those who rule are not acquainted with religion or endeavored to follow its moral codes. If a ruler was originally of poor intellect (qila al-‘aqt) and not given to disciplining his nature and maturing his thoughts, how can goodness be expected? The mind grows with education, acquiring skills, experience and training and continuous application of them.
Indeed most of them are not acquainted with religion (din), nor follow its etiquette (adab) at all. Their intellect remains scarce and the little they have is not helping but rather hindering. If a bodily organ is not regularly performing its function, it breaks down and declines. That is why writers grow weak in their eyesight (absar), while the eyesight (absar) of Bedouins grows sharper as nothing obstructs their line of sight. The function of the intellect (*aqt) is to think (tafakkui) and consider the consequences of actions (‘aivaqib al-ahwat) and deduce results. Yet the former group fill themselves with all types of food that harms the intellect. They go to sleep and upon waking, consume intoxicants. Their intellect is therefore, simultaneously hindered and covered; what poor level of management!
(Source: al-Hafiz Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-jawzl [d. 597AH] “CAPTURED THOUGHTS being” a translation of his masterpiece ‘Sayd al-K hatir)
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