Secondly...

Secondly, the meaning of taqwa in the Nahj al-balaghah is not synonymous with that of 'abstinence', even in its logically accepted sense discussed above. Taqwa , on the other hand, according to the Nahj al-balaghah , is a spiritual faculty which appears as a result of continued exercise and practice. The healthy and rational forms of abstinence are, firstly, the preparatory causes for the emergence of that spiritual faculty; secondly, they are also its effects and outcome.

This faculty strengthens and vitalizes the soul, giving it a kind of immunity. A person who is devoid of this faculty, if he wants to keep himself free from sins, it is unavoidable for him to keep away from the causes of sin. Since society is never without these causes, inevitably he has to go into seclusion and isolate himself. It follows from this argument that one should either remain pious by isolating himself from one's environment, or he should enter society and bid farewell to taqwa .

Moreover, according to this logic, the more isolated and secluded a person's life is and the more he abstains from mixing with other people, the greater is his piety and taqwa in the eyes of the common people. However, if the faculty of taqwa is cultivated inside a person's soul, it is no longer necessary for him to seclude himself from his environment. He can keep himself clean and uncorrupted without severing his relations with society.

The former kind of persons are like those who take refuge in mountains for fear of some plague or epidemic. The second kind resemble those who acquire immunity and resistance through vaccination and so do not deem it necessary to leave the city and avoid contact with their townsfolk. On the other hand, they hasten to the aid of the suffering sick in order to save them.

Sa'di is alluding to the first kind of pious in his Gulistan, when he says: Saw I a sage in the mountains, Happy in a cave, far from the world's tide.

Said I, "Why not to the city return, And lighten your heart of this burden?" He said, "The city abounds in tempting beauties, And even elephants slip where mud is thick." The Nahj al-balaghah speaks of taqwa as a spiritual faculty acquired through exercise and assiduity, which on its emergence produces certain characteristic effects, one of which is the ability to abstain from sins with ease. I guarantee the truth of my words and I am responsible for what I say.