4. THE SUCCESSFUL ONES CARE TO SAFEGUARD RELIGION AND BE CONTENT WITH THEIR SHARE IN LIFE
I thought about the disputes occurring between kings, the carefulness {hirs) of traders [to generate profits], and the hypocrisy of ascetics (nifaq al-mutazahidin), and found out that most of them fight over tangible worldly pleasures (ladhat).
When the intelligent contemplate all of that, they will realise the lifespan of tangible pleasures is short and they inevitably end, and that the purpose of such pleasures is unattainable.
If one exaggerates his efforts in this regard the harm caused accordingly shall be many times more than the pleasures he attained. It is like the one who eats a lot or copulates a lot.
The successful happy one is he who cares to protect his religion and seeks from all these pleasures only what he needs.
I wonder! When the cost of apparel is affordable, it serves [the purpose and covers the body] and when it is highly priced, it serves the same purpose too. However, if the wearer becomes proud of what he wears, Allah will not look at him then because it is reported in the authentic hadith, “While a man was walking, dragging his dress with pride; he was caused to be swallowed by the earth.”
As for beverages, if someone drinks what is prohibited (haram), he will receive a punishment that is twice as much as the accumulated pleasure, and people will shame him for that, which is another (type of) punishment. If the drink is deemed lawful, then know that gluttony will harm the body.
As for the wife, you should know that being too kind and polite with the one who is pretty’ is harmful, while being forbearing with the ugly is severely harmful; hence be moderate.
Reflect on the condition of Sultans! How many people they have murdered unlawfully? How many prohibited actions they have delved into?
Yet, despite all that, they only attained a little of the tangible pleasures and as soon as the clouds of their life break, the regret of missing the good deeds and the onset of punishment will show up.
Truly, there is no better life than being in solitude with knowledge being your only companion and associate. In such a state where one is content with the lawfulness that safeguards his religion without any extravagance or need to compromise one’s religion.
In fact, he who lives in this state will wear the garment of glory instead of wearing humiliation in front of this world and its people, and he will have sufficed himself with being content with little when he is unable to have much; thereby safeguarding his religion and his life.
Being busy with learning knowledge will lead him to virtues and admit him into the Gardens; therefore, he saves himself from the [evils of] Shaytan, the Sultan and the laypeople.
This state is only suitable to the learned ones because if the ignorant lived in solitude he will not learn any knowledge and hence will live in confusion.
(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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