Ibn Sina also says: اياك و فطانة بترا" “Avoid incomplete cleverness.

Ibn Sina also says: اياك و فطانة بترا" “Avoid incomplete cleverness.” 4) Hypocrisy As man grows up he learns and acquires the art of hypocrisy and as such is able to hide his real face from people. As this is a learned experience, hypocrisy is less observed among children than adults. Children are honest and naïve, expressing themselves directly. When a child is hungry at a party, he/she just openly expresses that feeling of hunger, without reservation.

Many may read books, studying comparative religions and different schools of thought, but not all of these people search for the sake of learning and certainly are not searching for the truth. . People who have hidden agendas such as learning in order to misuse information or pretend they are learned people to achieve some position, are rather hypocrites and their sheer hypocrisy alone will prevent them from reaching the truth.

In these instances, a hypocrite is not in fact in search of a truth, he has already formed an opinion and is just attempting at proving his enemies wrong. This disease is commonly observed in writings of particular religious zealots, when condemning another religion or sect. Hypocrisy is considered a severe mental disease in Islam. In more than 13 chapters of the Holy Quran this disease has been analyzed.

Chapter 63 of the Holy Quran is even dedicated to unveiling this disease, introducing the distorted personality of the hypocrites. 5) Prejudice & Stubbornness “When spite arrives, art departs One hundred veils travel from heart to eyes.” -Rumi- The central problem of prejudice rests on egotism, in the sense of being absorbed in oneself, family, tribe, race and even religious zealousness to condemn whatever and whoever is against the self.

Frederick Copleston, in the preface of his work ‘A History of Philosophy' criticizes the authors of history for their biased approaches, yet admits that it is quite impossible for an author not to influence his personal opinion. He assumes that his narration is free from any prejudice, yet it clearly represents an orthodox, scholarly interpretation of history.

Based on the above discussion, prejudice can be present in many situations to which the person is related, such as a particular party, group, ethnic element and patriotism. The summation of this is personal interest. A man asked Imam Ali (a.s) to define Islam for him. The Imam replied: “I will give you an exact definition which has not been given before. Islam means submission to truth”.