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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Taqwa (purity), Zuhd (piety) and Sympathy (kindness) According To Nahjul Balaghah A Comparison The literature of Arabic and Persian is replete with works containing spiritual and moral teachings of highest sublimity and elegance though mainly in the form of poetry.

There is, for example, the famous qasidah by Abu al-Fath al-Busti (360-400/971-1010), which begins with the verse: Worldly profit and achievement is loss, And the gain unmarked by the seal of pure goodness. There is also the elegiacal qasidah of Abu al-Hasan al-Tihami, which he wrote on the early death of his youthful son. It begins with these lines: The law of fate governs the destiny of creation, And this world is not a place to settle in.

Every one of these works is an everlasting masterpiece of its kind and shines like a star on the horizons of the Arabic literature of Islamic era, never to lose its freshness and charm. In Persian, the Gulistan and the Bustan of Sa'di and his qasaid serve as an unusually attractive and effective means of moral advice and are masterpieces of their own kind.

To give some examples, there are those famous verses of the Gulistan which start with the verse: Every breath is a fraction of life gone, And when I see, not much has remained of it. Or in his qasa'id where he says: O people, the world is not a place for leisure and repose; To the wise man, the world is not worth the effort of acquiring it. Or at another place where he says: The world on water and life on wind do rest; Salutes to the brave who do not tie their hearts to them.

And where he says: Time and fortune are subject to endless change; The wise man doesn't attach his heart to the world. Sa'di's Bustan is full of profound and glowing spiritual advices, and, perhaps, is at its best in the ninth chapter on " Penitence and the Right Way ". The same is true of some portions of the Mathnawi of Rumi and works of all other Persian poets, from whom we shall not further quote any examples.

In Islamic literature, including the Arabic and the Persian, there exist excellent examples of spiritual counsels and aphorisms. This Islamic literary genre is not confined to these two languages, but is also found in Turkish, Urdu, and other languages, and a characteristic spirit pervades all of them.