30. THE STRUCTURE OF THE SELF
‘The self (nafs) saves within itself, some elements for the sake of preservation, which include blood and semen in addition to some other elements to maintain strength.
When such elements are depleted, the self is gone too. From other preservation ‘the self keeps are for the purpose of strengthening its essence with wealth, social status and everything else that necessitates joy (farti).
Thus, if the self was exultant and then lacked these elements, it will be embarrassed, and if it was overwhelmed with fear (kauf), it may find no balance of hope {raja) preserved within to balance it
And if it was overwhelmingly rejoicing, it may find no balance of fear to balance it, which all will cause it to be ruined.
That said, you should endeavor to preserve the elements of the self, especially old-aged people who should neither rejoice forgetting out his blood nor releasing his semen. Even if he happened to be sexually overactive except if such state is abnormal; hence releasing his semen will be for the purpose of ridding himself of the harmful element; and the sign to know it was harmful, a comfort (raha) is attained upon its release because if he would feel weak (d a f afterward, it shows that the act, per se, was harmful.
A man with pride should preserve his status and save his face by avoiding being in a position he would be blamed for because his balance of elements are his pride and confidence and it harms him if it was the opposite.
A person should also be prepared when he is old by having some savings so he is not humiliated or forced to work when he is too weak to work. Letting his enemy inherit his wealth after his death is better than to be in need of a friend at the end of his life; you should pay no attention to those who condemn wealth because they are just ignorant fools who relied upon comfort and enjoyed laziness (kasf) and did not mind receiving charity or begging people.
It is evident that every Prophet had a source of income, and so did the companions of the Prophet who left behind great wealth.
Thus, you should understand this principle very well and heed not the words of the ignorant.
(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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