23. THE DANGER OF LUXURY (AL-RAFAHIYYA)
I reflected upon the state of the affluent, whose interests revolve around the pleasures of this worldly life and who go to lengths in protecting themselves from the elements of heat and the cold— realising that such exaggeration with protection stands against the purpose for which heat and cold were created.
And so, these people only acquire a temporal pleasure followed by pain; and there is no good in a pleasure leading to pain.
To elaborate this point, in hot weather they drink ice water that renders harm to the body, which people of medicine say causes severe diseases whose effect show as a person ages.
They also place double layered sheets on windows to cast away the sunlight; and in cold weather, they put on heavy clothing to keep their bodies warm.
This lifestyle opposes the actual wisdom behind the creation of hot and cold weather. Heat was created to break down and decompose blood, sputum, black bile and yellow bile, and cold to freeze them—while the lifestyle of these people turn their entire year into a season of spring— negating the effect of heat and cold and leading to long-term illnesses in the future.
Let none think or even assume that 1 advise people to expose themselves to cold or hot weather. Rather, I advise people not to overdo warming themselves in winter and cooling themselves in summer. This is because the body needs to feel some ot the warmth ot summer to break down the aforesaid elements in the body in a way that does not affect its stamina, and to feel some of the cold in winter without harming the body because warmth and cold are created tor the benefit of the body.
There was one a prince who used to overly protect himself against the heat and cold until his health condition changed and so he died at an early age. I mentioned his full story in my other book, titled ‘Selected Benefits from the Science of Medicine’.
(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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