Man’s tranquility and comfort is guaranteed in severing...

Man’s tranquility and comfort is guaranteed in severing people’s grudges against him because man can never please everyone’s expectations. It is for this reason that embarking on edification of character is better than striving to please people.

If man wants to discharge all of the people’s rights such as burying the dead, visiting the sick and taking part in various ceremonies, he will spend much of his time and not fulfill his more important duties and if he decides to discharge some of his social duties and neglect others, those people whose functions he did not attend to will complain and not accept whatever excuses he has to offer. Thus, he feels indebted to people and this in itself is cause of enmity and ill-feeling.

However, a person who completely secludes himself from these issues is less likely to be entangled by them. f) A person who lives in reclusion and solitude is liberated from witnessing proud, stubborn and foolish people, all of whom cause irritation.

A certain man was asked, “Why do you look sad?” He responded, “Because I was looking at the rich and the proud.” Therefore, from the worldly perspective, witnessing the rich and the proud affects man in an undesirable manner and from the point of view of the hereafter, man does not hesitate to talk about them in their absence once he has been vexed by them.

In addition to that, once man has been hurt by other people’s gossip, false accusation and jealousies, he does not hesitate to retaliate and all these result in the corruption of man’s religion and faith; it is for this reason that a man who secludes himself from people remains safe from all these calamities.

The Benefits of Association and Coexistence with Others A great deal of religious as well as worldly goals and needs are attained with the help of other people and cannot be achieved without association and coexistence with other human beings. Therefore, that which is attained by associating with other people is lost by reclusion and seclusion and it is natural that losing those benefits is one of the detriments of reclusion.

With regard to what has been mentioned, some of the benefits of associating with people must thus be enumerated: a) Teaching and learning from other people The importance of teaching and learning from other people is very clear to everyone and is one of the superior forms of worship which cannot be attained except by mixing and associating with others.