SECOND PART OF THE BOOK

FIRST CHAPTER

The ethics of Islam is studied by dividing into three categories. However, in order to understand these three, it is necessary to study the sub-branches of these categories. We will divide the subject into an introduction and three categories and then explain only the first category in this book.

PREFACE

One must desire to learn the knowledge of ethics. One cannot be forced to learn it. Every optional (Ihtiyari) action can be achieved by learning two of its prerequisites. First, one should understand the essence of the matter. Secondly, one should have a first-hand knowledge of what will be gained by doing it. In addition, it is a widely accepted method by learned man that one should learn the sub-branches of the subject in order to understand the main (basic) knowledge easily. We will also follow this method and explain the three branches of the subject in the preface. Furthermore, we will add two additional sections.

FIRST TOPIC: ethics of Islam will be divided into three categories,

1. The knowledge of ethics, (Ilm al-akhlaq) teaches us the actions of a person, whether they are good or evil, while he is alone (and not thinking others.) When a person is alone, he regulates his conduct according to his nature. For example, a person who has a gentle nature, who is generous and who has a sense of shame has these qualities whether he is alone or he is in the presence of others. The knowledge of ethics informs us these type of actions which do not change by being alone or in the presence of others.

2. The second category of ethics examines a person's behavioir towards his family members in his home. This is called manners of family management (Tadbir al-manzil).

3. The third category of knowledge of ethics covers duties and behavioir of a person and how he could be useful to everyone in society. This is called social manners (Siyasat al-madina). It is written in Akhlaq an-nasiri by Nasiruddin-i Muhammad Tusi that when a human being does something, whether it is good or evil, it is for a reason. This reason is either due to his nature or to his obedience to laws and orders. The things he do due to his nature are the things he do according to his intellect, thought and experience. This type of things do not change by time or the influence of society. When the reason is due to his obedience to laws and orders, his actions can change in time because laws change with time. Sometimes, these laws are established by the collective consciousness of a community or a society. They are called customs (Rusum). Other times, these laws are established by a famed scholar or by an experienced, authoritarian person such as prophets, friends (Saints) of Allahu ta'ala, kings and dictators. The laws sent by Allahu ta'ala and taught by prophets, friends of Allahu ta'ala and scholars are three kinds. The first kind is the law that must be obeyed by every person individually; they are called laws (Ahkam) or worships (Ibadats). The second kind are the laws that must be obeyed mutually by the members of a society. They are marriage laws (Munakahat) and business laws (Muamalat). The third kind are the laws that involve countries and societies. They are called matters which pertain to laws and politics (Hudud). All of the three kinds of laws are called "Knowledge of Fiqh." The "Knowledge of Fiqh" and the laws which make up this knowledge can change from one country to another, from one nation to another, and from one time to another but they can only be changed through the information given by Allahu ta'ala. The religious laws (Shari'ats) that were canceled or changed were this kind. For example, during the time of Adam, peace be upon him, multiplication of the human race was a necessity; so it was permissible for a man to marry his sister; but when the human race multiplied, it was no longer a necessity. Consequently, this permission was canceled and it became forbidden (Haram).

SECOND TOPIC: in this section we will explain the usefulness and application of the knowledge of ethics.

When a person studies his environment, such as the earth and the skies, or contemplates the balance and order in the universe, that is, how billions of stars in space continue to move in their orbits without colliding with each other for centuries, or how the construction, movement and amount of atmospheric pressure, temperature, air and water are delicately balanced to allow life to flourish on earth, or when he observes the delicate order in the construction of human beings, animals, plants, inanimate objects, atoms, cells or, in short, the numerous creatures which are studied in the science courses taught in high schools and universities, he will feel compelled to believe in the existence of an all-powerful and all-knowledgeable creator, who creates all the orderly systems and creatures. A person with intelligence will understand and appreciate this great, delicate balance and order in the universe and will readily believe in the existence of Allahu ta'ala and become Muslim. When a philosophy professor from Switzerland who converted to Islam in 1966 was asked by a newsman about his conversion, he replied: "By studying Islamic books I understood the true (Haqq) way and the greatness of Islamic scholars. If Islamic religion would be exposed in a correct manner, everyone in the entire world who has intelligence would accept it by lovingly and willingly."

When a person becomes Muslim by studying nature and himself and then studies the books written by Islaimic scholars and learns the life story and beautiful moral conduct of Muhammad, peace be upon him, his belief will strengthen. Furthermore, by studying the knowledge of ethics he will understand good and ill temperaments, useful and harmful matters. By doing good deeds, he will become a mature and valuable human being in the world. His worldly affairs will be orderly and they will materialize easily. He will live in comfort and peace. Everyone will love him. Allahu ta'ala will be content with him here. Also, He will treat him compassionately and give him many rewards in the hereafter. We would again like to emphasize that a person needs two things in order to attain happiness. The first of these two is that one should possess the correct knowledge and belief which can be acquired through learning scientific knowledge and reading the life story and moral conduct of Muhammad, peace be upon him. The second one is that one should be a gentle-natured human being with good behavior. These things can be acquired by learning the knowledge of "Fiqh" and "Ethics" and by practicing them. Whoever acquires these two things will attain the consent and love of Allahu ta'ala because Allahu ta'ala knows everything with His infinite knowledge. He gave much knowledge to angels and prophets. The angels and prophets do not possess anything shameful, faulty or ugly. In contrast, human beings have very little knowledge and their beliefs are either smeared with corrupt habits or stained by ill conduct. For this reason, human beings are very distant from Allahu ta'ala, angels and prophets. They are deprived of honor of joining their presence. If a human being does not attain the real belief by avoiding studying scientific knowledge and observing nature; and if he does not strengthen his belief by knowing Muhammad, peace be upon him, in the properly prescribed manner, he will be the one who stays in infinite wickedness and distress. Alternately, if he obtains the real belief and refuses to follow his soul (Nafs), and follows the orders of Allahu ta'ala by abstaining from prohibitions set by Him, he will not be deprived of receiving the mercy and forgiveness of Allahu ta'ala. He will not be deprived from attaining happiness. He will be punished only for his wrong doings; he will burn in hell and it will be difficult for him to receive the mercy of Allahu ta'ala. Eventually, because of his belief he will obtain the mercy of Allahu ta'ala. Hell fire will cleanse the dirt of his evil deeds and will purify him so that he will be suitable to enter heaven.

It is apparent that the most important of all the blessings and comforts is to possess perfect belief. Everyone should strive to cleanse his heart from wrong beliefs and doubts. If one obtains the correct belief and has a good character and does good deeds, one will resemble supreme spirits such as Prophets, friends (Saints) of Allahu ta'ala, and angels. He will get close to them and be attracted by them toward higher ranks in a manner similar to the law of gravitational force. They will attract him towards higher highs similar to a small pin's attraction by a high electromagnetic force generated by a huge electromagnet or a small pin's attraction by a huge magnet as big as a mountain. Then, one will pass the "Sirat-Bridge" with lightening-speed and will be one of those who are comforted eternally in the Gardens of Paradise with blessings which are appropriate for his spiritual heart and spirit.

Couplet :

Scholars who practice what they know, will not suffer grievous punishment,

Attain the blessings of Jannat, that is the supreme success!

The knowledge of ethics is the knowledge of cleanliness of spiritual heart (Qalb) and spirit (Ruh). It is similar to the knowledge of medicine's being the science of preventive health for the body. Vices are diseases of the spiritual heart and spirit. Evil deeds are symptoms and signs of these diseases. The knowledge of ethics is a much honored, valuable and necessary knowledge. Evil qualities of the spiritual heart and spirit can only be cleansed with this knowledge. The health and strengthening of the spiritual heart and spirit could only be possible through this knowledge. Also, strong spiritual hearts and spirits will become good-natured ones through the help of the knowledge of ethics. The good and pure hearts and spirits will also improve their purity and maintain this state with the help of this knowledge.

[Spiritual heart and spirit are two different things although they look very much alike. In this book, when the spirit is mentioned alone it should be understood that we mean both of them.]

Does one's character change? Is it possible for a human being to give up his character and acquire another one? There are several differing opinions but they can mainly be categorized into three groups:

1. The character (Habits) never changes because it is an entity a human being is not capable of changing.

2. Character is of two kinds: the first one is created at birth and cannot be changed "innate, inherent with the self." The second one is acquired later through repetition and is "habit." This acquired character can be altered or changed.

3. The whole character (Habits) is acquired after birth and can be changed by external influences. The majority of Islamic scholars accept the third notion. Divine laws (Shari'ats) which prophets brought prove that this third notion is correct. The student-training methods instituted by religious scholars and Sufi masters function under the light of the third notion.

According to which suitable nature human beings come into this world? This is also an unresolved question up to now. The opinion of the majority of scholars is that human beings are born suitable for goodness and to make progress. Later, evil desires of the soul, not learning good morals and associating with evil friends forms evil character. Rasulullah, peace be upon him, said, "Everybody was born suitable to accept Islam. Later, their mothers and fathers make them Christian, Jews or disbelievers."

Couplet:

You are corrupting yourself with your own hand

Whereas, the Creator created you beautifully.

According to some scholars, the spirit of human being came to this world as an impure entity. The spirit itself was clean but when it was united with the body, it became corrupt due to the necessities of the body. However, those whom Allahu ta'ala chooses to save and decrees goodness will not remain impure as they were born but will return to goodness.

Some other scholars said that the spirit is neither good nor evil from birth. It is in a neutral state. It could turn either way. A person who learns goodness will attain happiness and maturity. They said that a person who associates with evil people and learns vices and ugly things will be a wretched and evil person.

Galen, a Greek physician and writer of medicine and philosophy, 130-200 A.D., said, "The spirits of human beings are of three types. The first are the ones which were created good; the second are the ones which were created evil; and the third is neither of the first two types but afterwards can be either one of them. There are very few people who have a good nature, but there are more people who have evil qualities from birth and who want to do evil things constantly. The number of persons who can become evil when associated with evil ones, and who can become good when associated with good ones are somewhere in between the first two types." According to this, the nature of some people can be changed, while the nature of many people cannot be changed. [Since the Greek philosophers were not aware of the spiritual heart, they only mentioned the spirit. Most of those Muslim authors who have written books about ethics followed them in that respect.]

According to the majority of scholars, everyone's nature can change. No one's nature will stay the way it was created. If natures would't change, the religions communicated by prophets would be futile and unnecessary. The training and punishment methods established unanimously by the scholars would be absurd. All scholars taught knowledge and manners to their children and it has always been known that education and training provided useful results. For these reasons, it is obvious as the shining sun that the nature of human beings changes. However, some habits are established very intensely and became a quality of the spirit. Changing and annihilating these type of habits would be very difficult. They mostly exist in ignorant and mean people. Changing these habits requires undertaking intensive "Riyazat" and "Mujahadat". One's struggle with himself in order not to fulfill the evil desires of his soul is called "Riyazat". "Mujahadat" is doing things one's soul do not like. Ignorant people do not practice "Riyazat" and "Mujahadat", thinking that one's nature will never change. They do not cleanse their vices. If we accept their argument and let everybody follow desires (Hawa) of their souls and do not punish the guilty, humanity will be pushed toward immorality. For this reason, Allahu ta'ala through pity for His human creatures sent prophets to train the people and teach them good and evil natures. He chose His beloved Muhammad, peace be upon him, as the greatest among all the teachers. He changed all the previous divine laws with his divine law (Shari'at, religion), i.e., "Shari'at al-Muhammad." His religion became the final religion. Thus, his shining religion included all of the goodness and methods of training. Those who have wisdom and can distinguish good from evil should read the books of ethics which are derived from this religion and learn it. They should plan their business accordingly so that they may reach comfort, peace of mind, happiness and salvation of this and the next worlds and contribute to the order of family and social life. This is the most important duty of a human being. Everyone should read and learn this book, which we named Ethics of Islam attentively because, with the help of Allahu ta'ala, we have gathered the information which pertains to the aforementioned topics.

THIRD TOPIC: we had divided "Ethics of Islam" into three parts. In order to understand them clearly, we will explain supplementary information. Every knowledge and science has many branches. Sometimes all the branches unite on some points. At these points, all the branches of that science become one. This one point is the subject of that science. For example, the science of medicine has many branches but every branch unites at the study of illnesses and health of the body and this is the subject of medicine. In order to learn a science easily, first, we must understand its subject. The subject of the knowledge of ethics is the human spirit. It teaches how to cleanse the evil qualities of the spirit and how to fill it with virtues. First, we should learn about the spirit and then the evil and virtues. Imam ash-Shafi'i said the following couplet:

I learned vices, not to become an evil one,

Who does not know what is vice, will fall into it, know for sure!

We will explain the knowledge in three steps in order to recognize the heart and spirit as much as possible and explain its apparent and hidden forces, as well as the things that cause its happiness and destruction.

FIRST STEP: WHAT IS SPIRITUAL HEART (Qalb) AND SPIRIT (Ruh)? These two entities are named "Nafs al-natiqa" or in short soul (Nafs) by the Greek philosophers and their imitators. [But Imam ar-Rabbani, may Allahu ta'ala be pleased with him, who was a great scholar and a specialist in the knowledge of "Tasawwuf" and ethics, said that soul, spirit and spiritual heart were different entities.] In the 85th verse of the chapter of "Isra" of the Qur'an Allahu ta'ala says, "They ask you about the spirit 'Ruh.' Answer them by saying that the spirit 'Ruh' is an entity among the other beings that my Lord has created." This verse prohibits revealing information about the spirit. For this reason, the majority of the Guides (Masters, Shaikhs) of the Sufi Paths known as "Tariqat al-aliyya" (a specialized Sufi group) and scholars of Islam abstained from talking about the spirit. It is understood from the Qur'an that discussion is prohibited about the essence of the spirit but discussion is not prohibited about its special forces and peculiarities. Majority of scholars informed their students and those who inquired about the spiritual heart and spirit that the spiritual heart and spirit are not matter (substance) but rather they are "Jawhar al-Basit" (will be explained later). It is the spiritual heart and spirit which understand the information grasped by the intellect, receive the sensations coming from the sense organs to the brain and govern all the forces and the movements of the body. The great leaders of the Sufi paths and the scholars of "knowledge of faith" told us about the spiritual heart and spirit in the above-mentioned manner. [Those who wish to obtain detailed information about the spiritual heart and spirit should read the books Awarif al-ma'arif and Maktubat. Awarif al-Ma'arif was written by Shaikh Shihabuddin Umar Shuhrawardi, may Allahu ta'ala be pleased with him. He was a scholar who followed the "Shafi'i" school of thought (Madhhab). He was born 539 Hijri Qamari, [1145 A.D.] and died 632 Hijri, [1234 A.D.] in Baghdad. He received spiritual enlightenment from Shaikh Abdulqadir al-Geilani, may Allahu ta'ala be well pleased with him The book Maktubat was written by Imam ar-Rabbani, may Allahu ta'ala be well pleased with him. He was born 971 Hijri Qamari [1563 A.D.] in Sarhand/India and died at his birth place in 1034 Hijri, [1624 A.D.] Abdulqadir al-Geilani, may Allahu ta'ala be well please with him, passed away 561 Hijri Qamari at Baghdad.]

We will now expand and explain the above-mentioned description of the spiritual heart and spirit in six sections.

1. SPIRITUAL HEART AND SPIRIT EXIST: the existence of the spirit is obvious. There is no need for proving something obvious. The most obvious and evident thing for a human being is his existence. A human being does not forget himself for a fraction of a second. Spirit never forgets itself even while it is sleeping or drunk. There is no reason for trying to prove that whether or not a human being recognizes his own existence. But it is permissible to prove whether the spirit is material or not, or whether it exists by itself or along with something else and some other special attributes similar to these. Many of them are obvious but reviewing them at this point would be beneficial. Thus we will write them in five steps.

2. SPIRITUAL HEART AND SPIRIT ARE SUBSTANCE: this means they exist. Ruh is called as "Djan" in the Persian. When an animal dies, we say its "Djan" departed from it. It means its spirit separated from its body. Every created being is either substance (Jawhar) or attribute (Araz). If something is substance, it does not need anyone else's help for its existence. It stays in existence by itself. If something is an attribute (Sifat, Araz), it can't stay in existence by itself. It would need the help of something else for its existence. Matter and objects are substances. Their colors, smell and shapes are their attributes. Color exists in an object. If there is no object, the color cannot exist. There are two types of substance. The first one is non matter being (Mujarrat). It does not have weight, shape or color and it doesn't affect the sense organs. The second one is matter. The non matter substance cannot be perceived through sense organs and cannot be divided. Intellect (Aql) and spirit are examples of this group. In contrast to this, matter that is the second type of substance can be perceived through sense organs and can be divided. When matter takes a certain shape, it is called an object (Jism). It has been proven by many different ways that spirit is a non matter substance. The simplest way of proving is the following: attributes exist in a substance. Substance possesses the attribute. Everything which is sensed or thought is carried out by spirit. Therefore, spiritual heart and spirit are substance. They are not attributes. Some people reject this type of proving by saying that sometimes an attribute can exist with an attribute such as velocity which is an attribute exists with motion which is also an attribute.