ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Islamic Teachings in Brief (2) the Duty of Man Towards Himself No matter what policy or course of action man pursues in his life, indeed he looks after nothing but his happiness and prosperity. The recognition of the happiness of something is of minor importance with regard to-the recognition of the thing itself; that is, unless we know ourselves, we will not know our actual needs whose fulfilment provides us with happiness.

Therefore, the most essential duty of man is to know himself so as to perceive his happiness and prosperity and endeavour to fulfil his needs by the means that are at his disposal. He must not waste away his valuable life which is his only treasure. The Holy Prophet (SA) states: "whoever knows himself knows his Allah".

And Amir al-Mu'minin, 'Ali (AS), states: "whoever knows himself, attains the highest position of knowledge." After knowing himself, man realizes that his greatest duty is to value highly the essence of his humanity and not to trample upon such a valuable treasure. He also finds that he must strive for his physical and mental health so as to attain a prosperous and delightful eternal life.

Amir al-Mu'minin, 'Ali (AS) states: "Carnal desires will be low and insignificant to whoever respects himself." The entity of man is comprised of two things: self or personality and body. It is man's responsibility to try to keep both these essential parts, i.e., the self or soul and body healthy and stable. He is duty bound to endeavour for the health of his soul and body in accordance with the adequate and precise orders given on both of them by the holy religion of Islam.

PHYSICAL HEALTH Abstaining from Harmful Things: Through a series of rules and regulations, the holy religion of Islam has adequately safeguarded the physical health such as enjoining people not to eat corpse, blood, flesh of some animals, and poisonous food; prohibiting them from drinking alcoholic beverages and polluted water; over eating; causing harm to the body; and other directives which are beyond the scope of this chapter.

Keeping Clean: Cleanliness is one of the most important principles of health. For this reason, great importance has been attached to this principle in the holy Shari'ah of Islam. The importance given by Islam to cleanliness cannot be found in any other religion.