28. WISDOM IS NECESSARY FOR ACHIEVING GOALS AND OVERCOMING ENEMIES
A wise person must always contemplate the end results and be careful of them.
He must not assume that the way things are going at any given moment will continue. He must prepare for changing times and for the status quo to discontinue. He must look into the shame that results from achieving a temporary (forbidden) lust and the ignorance resulting from being too lazy (to seek knowledge).
Deceiving an intelligent person requires utilising subtle tricks, because an intelligent person notices the slightest of motions. In the book of “tricks” there were many ideas that sharpen one’s intellect. 1 have mentioned some of them in my book “The Intelligent Ones”.
If you have fallen victim to an intelligent person, then you must be cautious and develop different ways to trick him subtly, just as a chess player studies his moves well.
Many people try to bribe an intelligent person in order to get their way with him. He must be even more cautious of their attempts
The person you must be most cautious of is someone whom you have previously harmed, for by harming him you have planted the tree of hatred in his heart. So do not pay attention to his attempts to be nice to you, even if he swears; so be cautious of him.
It is not wise for you to punish someone, or to do something bad to him knowing that this will only renew the hatred he has towards you. When you think that he has no feelings of hatred toward you anymore, he strikes back and sets you up for evil.
Therefore, never live with someone who you have previously harmed, for grudges should never be trusted. When you find your enemy in a state of weakness, then show grace to him so he forgets your animosity’ and will not assume you are carrying a grudge against him. You will thus be able to get what you want from him.
In fact, it is a sign of bad judgment for you to continuously express animosity to your enemy. The best way to deal with enemies is to be kind with them until you assume position to be able to break them. At minimum, being gende with them will make them stop harming you; as some of them may feel embarrassed to do so after you have shown them grace. Being gentle may cause your enemy’s heart to change (and incline) towards you.
Some of the Salaf used to send gifts to those who used to speak ill of them, so in the short term, this will cause their harm to stop, and perhaps hearts to change— and provide them time to contemplate their rebuttal strategy.
The best educators are those whose mind contemplates the end results.
(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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