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Nahj al-Balaghah and Its Spiritual Teachings (10) - Al-Shia The Scientific and Cultural Website of Shia belief Nahj al-Balaghah and Its Spiritual Teachings (10) 2023-04-10 653 Views Islamic teachings , Imam Ali , The Commander of faithful , Nahj al-Balagha , The Peak of Eloquence In this part of the article titled “Nahj al-Balaghah and Its Spiritual Teachings”, we shall continue our discussions on “Zuhd” (abstention) as one of the important themes of Nahj al-Balaghah here.

Contents The Contradiction Between the World and the Hereafter Zuhd: Minimum of Intake for Maximum Output The Contradiction Between the World and the Hereafter The problem of the conflict between the world and the Hereafter and the contradiction between them as two opposite poles, such as the north and the south, which are such that proximity to the one means remoteness from the other-is related to the world of human heart, conscience, human attachment, love and worship.

God has not given two hearts to man: God has not assigned to any man two hearts within his breast. (1) With one heart one cannot choose two beloveds. That is why once when questioned about his old and worn-out clothes, Imam Ali (a) replied: These make the heart humble, subdue the self, and induce the believers to follow it as an example. (2) That is, those who have no new clothes to wear are not ashamed to put on an old and worn-out dress.

They no longer feel humiliation on their account for they see that their leader himself hasn’t put on any better. Then Imam Ali (a) goes on to add that the world and the Hereafter are like two irreconcilable enemies. They are two divergent paths. Anyone who loves the world and chooses its bondage is, by nature, led to loathe the Hereafter and detest everything that is related to it. The world and the Hereafter are like the east and the west, the north and the south.

Anyone who approaches one gets farther from the other. They are like two wives. In one of his epistles, he writes: I swear by God that, God willing, I shall so discipline my own self that it would rejoice to have a single loaf of bread for eating and be content with only salt to season it. (In prayer) I shall empty my eyes of tears until they become like dried-up springs. The cattle fill their stomachs on the pasture and lie down to repose.

The goats graze, devour green herbs, and enter their enclosures. Should ‘Ali in a similar manner swallow whatever he lays his hands on and lies down to doze’? Congratulations!