ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Character of Ali Ibn Abi Talib Chapter 8 :the Best Means For Refining the Soul The previous discussion on the subject of love and affection was an introduction, and now we want gradually to draw a conclusion.

The most important part of our discussion - it is in fact the foundation of our discussion -is whether love and affection for those near to God, and devotion to persons of excellence, is an aim in itself, or whether it is a means for refining the soul, reforming one's morals, and acquiring human virtues and excellences.

In animal love, all the interests and endeavour of the lover is towards the form of the loved one and the harmony of the loved one's limbs and the colour and beauty of the skin, and these are instincts which pull and attract man. However, after the satisfying of the instinct, these fires have no brightness, become cool, and are eventually extinguished. But human love, as we have said, is life and vitality; it engenders obedience and loyalty.

This is the love which makes the lover resemble the loved one, makes him try to be a manifestation of the loved one and a copy of the loved one's behaviour, just as Khwajah Nasiru'd-Din at-Tusi says in his commentary to Ibn Sina's Kitabu 'l-isharat wa 't-tanbihat (Book of Directives and Remarks) (The love of) the soul is that whose source is the essential resemblance of the soul of the lover with the soul of the beloved.

Most of the lover's delight is in the characteristics of the beloved which proceed from the soul of the beloved . . . It makes the soul tender, yearning and ecstatic and gives it a delicacy of feeling which detaches it from the distractions of the world. [^23] Love pushes towards similarity and resemblance, and its power causes the lover to assume the form of the beloved.

Love is like an electric wire which joins the being of the beloved to the lover and transfers the qualities of the beloved to him; and it is here that the choice of a beloved is of fundamental importance. Thus Islam has given much importance to the subject of finding a friend and taking a companion. There are many verses (of the Qur'an) and sayings (of the Prophet and the Imams) in this domain, because friendship causes resemblance, creates beauty and brings imprudence.

Where its shines its light it sees the defect as art, and the thorn as rose and jasmine.