The phrase Fi Allah indicates having a divine spirit and sincerity of intention...

At the beginning of this wisdom teaching, the Imam (AS) reminds us that a person’s perspective on worldly matters and surrounding phenomena greatly influences his behavior and beliefs. It is clear that the World the Imam criticizes here is the blameworthy kind, just as Mawlana Rumi said: ‘What is the world? Being heedless of God, Not cloth, nor silver, nor scales, nor gold’ . [6] The Amir al-Muminin (AS) intends to convey that a person should not see the world as independently valuable.

Rather, he should view it as a place of divine testing and should not make it his ultimate goal. 3. Free from Gluttony وَ کَانَ خَارِجاً مِنْ سُلْطَانِ بَطْنِهِ “He had freed himself from the rule and dominance of his stomach” . [7] The word Sultan here means domination. [8] The reason this word is used is that the instincts and desires entrusted to human beings possess great force, so great that they can indeed dominate a person.

When a person gains control over his appetite and bodily desires, he acquires one of the prominent human traits. He escapes the domination of these urges and brings them under his own command; as a result, he becomes the ruler of his lower desires rather than their captive. 4. Contentment and Moderation فَلا يَشْتَهِي مَا لا يَجِدُ وَلا يُکْثِرُ إِذَا وَجَدَ “He did not crave what he could not obtain, and when he did obtain something, he did not rush toward it excessively”.

[9] Two negative traits push a person away from moderation: greed and excessive craving. The phrase “Fa-la Yashtahi Ma La Yajid” refers to greed . It means that this individual had attained such moral strength and prominent human traits that he no longer desired what he could not have. The phrase “la yukthir idha wajad” refers to excessive craving, meaning that even when he did obtain something, he would not go to extremes in using or consuming it.

Thus, this brother had freed himself from the rule of his appetite and had become its master. 5.