There are discourses which have been related from Rumi or Sa'di...

There are discourses which have been related from Rumi or Sa'di, meant as oral moral advice to their followers; they also by no means possess the brilliance and charm of the poetic works of those masters, and definitely are not worth considering for a comparison with the discourses of the Nahj al-balaghah.

The same can be said about the writings which have reached us in the form of a treatise or letter, such as the Nasihat al-muluk by Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali, the Taziyaneh-ye suluk by Ahmad al-Ghazali, the latter being an elaborate epistle addressed to his follower and pupil 'Ayn al-Qudat al-Hamadan Spiritual Counsel and Wisdom: Moral counsel, according to the Quran, is one of the three ways of invitation towards God (hikmah, maw'izah, al jidal al-hasan, i.e.

wisdom, good admonition, and honourable debate, as mentioned in 16: 125). The difference between hikmah (wisdom, philosophy) and maw'izah (spiritual and moral advice and admonition) lies in this that hikmah is for instruction and imparting knowledge, while maw'izah is meant for reminding. Hikmah is struggle against ignorance and maw'izah is struggle against negligence and indifference. Hikmah deals with the intellect and maw'izah appeals to the heart.

Hikmah educates, while maw'izah prepares the intellect for employment of its reserves. Hikmah is a lamp and maw'izah is an eye-opener. Hikmah is for ratiocination, while maw'izah is for self-awakening. Hikmah is the language of the intellect, while maw'izah is the message for the spirit. Accordingly, the personality of the speaker plays an essential role in maw'izah, which is not the case with hikmah.

In hikmah, two minds communicate in an impersonal manner But in maw'izah the situation is like the passage of an electric charge that flows from the speaker, who is at a higher potential, to the listener. For this reason, it has been said of maw'izah that: If it comes forth from the soul, then it necessarily alights upon the heart. Otherwise it does not go beyond the listener's ears.

It is about the quality of maw'izah that it is said: The speeeh which originates from the heart enters another heart, and the words which originate from the tongue do not go beyond the ears. It is true that the words that come from the heart, being the message of the soul, invade other hearts; but if they do not convey the message of the soul, are no more than empty literary devices, which do not go beyond the listener's ear-drum.