The spiritual life in Islam begins with riyadat al-nafs, the inner warfare against the ego. Distracted and polluted by worldliness, the lower self has a tendency to drag the human creature down into arrogance and vice. Only by a powerful effort of will can the sincere worshipper achieve the purity of soul which enables him to attain God’s proximity.
This translation of two chapters from The Revival of the Religious Sciences details the sophisticated spiritual techniques adopted by classical Islam. In the first step, On Disciplining the Soul, which cites copious anecdotes from the Islamic scriptures and biographies of the saints, Ghazali explains how to acquire good character traits, and goes on to describe how the sickness of the heart may be cured.
In the second part, Breaking the Two Desires, he focusses on the question of gluttony and sexual desire, concluding, in the words of the Prophet, that ‘the best of all matters is the middle way’.
Excerpts:
- “Bad character is a mortal poison and a sure path to perdition and humiliating disgrace, open vices and foul practices which set a distance between man and the proximity of the Lord of the Worlds, and induce him to follow the path of Satan the accursed..” [p. 4]
- “Know that the man who is dominated by sloth will consider unpleasant any spiritual struggle and discipline, or any purifying of the soul and refinement of the character. Because of his deficiency and remissness, and the foulness of his inward nature, his soul will not permit him to undertake such a thing; therefore he will claim that the traits of a man’s character cannot conceivably be altered, and that human nature is immutable.” [p. 24]
- “However, one day of idleness will invite [the student] to the next, and then, little by little, to others, until his soul takes pleasure in laziness and abandons studying altogether so that the merit which attaches to being a sage passes him by.” [p. 37]
- Nonetheless, one should not undervalue even a small amount of devotion, for a large quantity, which is made up of individual small acts, has an effect, so that each one of them must exercise an influence.” [p. 37]
- “The sign of the gnosis of Him is love, for whosoever knows Him loves Him also; and the sign of this love is that one should prefer none of the things of this world over Him. As God (Exalted is He!) has said, Say: If your fathers, and your sons, and your brothers, and your wives, and your tribe, and the wealth you have acquired and the trade you fear may not prosper, and the dwellings you desire, are dearer to you than God and His Messenger and striving in His way, then wait until God brings His command to pass. [Qur’an 9:24] Therefore, whosoever possesses a thing which is more dear to him than God is harbouring a sickness in his heart..” [p. 47]
- “However, things have come to such a pass with us that the most hateful of all people are those who counsel us and draw our attention to our defects. This is almost expressive of a weakness in our faith, for bad traits of character are vipers and stinging scorpions, and were someone to tell us that under our clothes there lurked a scorpion we would account this a great favour, and be delighted, and would occupy ourselves with removing and killing the scorpion in question. Yet the injury and pain it could cause to the body would last no more than a day, while ugly traits of character cause an injury in the very core of one’s heart, which, it may be feared, will endure even after death and for evermore, or for thousands of years. Nevertheless, we are not delighted when someone calls these things to our notice, nor do we busy ourselves with removing them; instead we repay the one who thus counsels us in kind, and say, ‘What about you? You also do this, that and the other,’ so that resentment towards him distracts us from gaining any profit by his advice. This is a kind of hardness in the heart produced by many sins, which in turn are the consequence of weak faith. Therefore we ask God (Exalted is He!) that through His grace and generosity He should inspire us with right guidance, show us the faults of our souls, occupy us with treating them, and guide us to thank those who reveal such weaknesses to us.” [p. 53]
- “Said Yahya ibn Mu’adh al-Razi, ‘Fight your soul with the swords of self-discipline. These are four: eating little, sleeping briefly, speaking only when necessary, and tolerating all the wrongs done to you by men. For eating little slays desire, sleeping briefly purifies your aspirations, speaking little saves you from afflictions, and tolerating wrongs will bring you to the goal—for the hardest thing for a man is to be mild when snubbed and to tolerate the wrongs which are done against him. And when the wish to indulge your desires and sin stirs in your soul, and the delight of superfluous discourse is aroused, you should draw the sword of eating little from the scabbard of the midnight prayer and sleeping briefly, and smite them with the fists of obscurity and silence until they cease to oppress you and avenge themselves upon you, and you become safe from their vicissitudes to the end of your days, having cleansed them of the darkness of the soul’s desires so that you escape from their hazardous afflictions. At this you will become a subtle spiritual body, and a radiance without weight, and shall roam in the field of goodness, travelling the paths of obedience to God like a swift horse in the field, and a king taking his recreation in a garden.’” [p. 57]
- “He also said, ‘Man has three enemies: the world, the devil, and the soul. Be on your guard against the world through renunciation, against the devil by disobeying him, and against the soul by abandoning desire’.” [p. 57]
- “Said Wuhayb ibn al-Ward, ‘Whosoever inclines toward the desires of this world should prepare himself for humiliation.’” [p. 57]
- “The essence and secret of self-discipline is this: that the soul should not take pleasure in anything which will not be present in the grave apart from that quantity which cannot be dispensed with. In matters of food, marriage, clothing, accommodation, and every other thing which one needs, one should restrict oneself to what is necessary and indispensable, for should the soul take pleasure in any of these things it will grow familiar with it, and, upon death, will wish to return to the world on its account; and no-one wishes to return to this world save him who has no share in the next. The only road to salvation in this regard is for the heart to be occupied with the knowledge, love, meditation upon and devotion to God, the strength for which can be derived from Him alone, and for one to restrict oneself to such worldly things as will set aside the obstacles to remembrance and meditation.” [p. 60]
- “In sum, then, the reason why people are destroyed lies in their greed for the things of the world. This greed is in turn produced by desire for food, and sexual desire, the latter being the upshot of the former. All these gates may be closed by a frugal diet; they are gates to Hell, which, when shut, open gates into Heaven….. Therefore, whoever is satisfied with a single loaf each day will be satisfied in respect of his other desires also, and will be liberated, since he will have no need of others, and will find rest from worldly pursuits so that he may devote himself to the worship of God (Great and Glorious is He!) and to trading for the Afterlife, thereby joining those described by God as Men whom neither commerce nor sale distract from the remembrance of God. [Qur’an 24:37] Such people are freed from this beguilement merely because, by virtue of contentment with their lot, they can dispense with it. He who needs more, however, must needs be beguiled.” [p. 129]
