ভূমিকা

^1 One should know what the carnal desires are and then stay away from them. One should also know what the human characteristics are and acquire them. One must act as well as learn. First, one must learn how to escape from his low self and obtain human characteristics, and then he must put what he learned into action. He should not satisfy himself with knowledge alone.

The bad nature of animals does not come from its paws or teeth; instead it is from the predatory nature that is found inside of them. This nature is also found in man along with the human and angelic natures as well. Man can become like a dog or wolf or like an angel. Habits Are Not Formed Spontaneously One's nature is nothing but his habits. These habits are not formed spontaneously; instead they are formed by the repetition of actions and words.

Someone whose actions are animalistic will eventually become an animal. One's inside is affected when he oppresses others. If he continues to oppress, his inside will turn into a dog. We said that man is different from skin and bones; his reality is his rational soul. Different natures take on different shapes. After time, if one acts and talks in accordance with the divine law, one will become a human. One will not reach the stage of humanity without struggle.

One can only dream that one can rid himself of all the animalistic natures and obtain all the angelic natures without struggle. Allah has created in such a way that man himself chooses whether he wants to be an animal or a human. One can slowly rid himself of his animalistic nature and try to perform angelic actions so that slowly he can gleam with humanity. If he does this he will be full of blessings and others can benefit from him.

‛Alī (A) Also Struggled To Perfect Himself Pay attention to the sentence of Imām ‛Alī (a) found in his sermon to Hamām.