A man takes care of his clothes and protects them from being spoiled or stolen...

A man takes care of his clothes and protects them from being spoiled or stolen, while the clothes in turn guard him against heat or cold. In fact, the Holy Quran speaks of taqwa as a garment: And the garment of taqwa -that is better. (3) Imam Ali (a), speaking about this relationship of mutual protection between a person and his Tawqa’, says: Turn your sleep into wakefulness by the means of taqwa and spend your days in its company. Keep its consciousness alive in your hearts.

With it wash away your sins and cure your ailments… Beware, guard your taqwa and place yourself under its guard. (4) At another place in the same sermon, Imam Ali (a) says: O God’s servants, I advise you to cultivate the taqwa of God. Indeed it is a right that God has over you and it is through it that you can have any right over God. You should beseech God’s help for guarding it and seek its aid for [fulfilling your duty to] God.

(5) Zuhd and Piety Another spiritual motif conspicuous in the teachings of the Nahj al-balaghah is zuhd, which after taqwa is the most recurring theme of the book. ‘Zuhd’ means renunciation of the ‘world’, and very often we encounter denunciation of the ‘world’, and invitation and exhortation to renounce it. It appears to me that it forms one of the important themes of the Nahj al-balaghah, which needs to be elucidated and explained in the light of various aspects of ‘Ali’s approach.

We shall begin our discussion with the word ‘zuhd’ The words ‘zuhd’ and ‘raghbah’ (attraction, desire), if mentioned without reference to their objects, are opposite to each other. ‘Zuhd’ means indifference and avoidance, and ‘raghbah ‘ means attraction, inclination, and desire. Indifference can be of two kinds: involuntary and cultivated.

A person is involuntarily indifferent towards a certain thing when by nature he does not have any desire for it, as in the case of a sick person who shows no desire either for food, fruits, or anything else. Obviously, this kind of indifference and abstinence has nothing to do with the particular sense implied in ‘zuhd ‘.

Another kind of indifference or abstinence is spiritual or intellectual; that is, things which are natural objects of desire are not considered the goal and objective by a human being in the course of his struggle for perfection and felicity.