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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Imam ‘Ali’s First Treatise On The Islamic Ethics And Education Preface In The Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Merciful Just as the human body needs food, clothing and a shelter, so does his soul need ethics and education. A person who is ignorant of the facts of creation, who is not nurtured with moral conducts, and is not void of obnoxious traits is only superficially a human being; he is in fact far away from humanity.

Regarding this, Sa'di from Shiraz (the famous poet) says: What makes a human body honorable is his soul; beautiful garment does not make a man; If eyes, tongues, ears and noses made a man; Then what would the difference be between a man and a painting on the wall; Be truly a man, or else you would be A bird talking human language; If you could eliminate your fierce nature you would live a human life all life-long.

For this very reason the significant portions of the agenda of the Prophets and divine Messengers include education and the enhancement of ethical considerations and well-adjusted conduct. These dignitaries, in accordance with the prevailing situations, have made use of either practical means and suitable behavior, or sermons and maxims, or treatises.[^1] Among these treasures is the Treatise of Amir al-Mu'minin (pbnh), which is the subject of the present translation.

It is appropriate here to draw your attention to the following points: What Is Ethics? According to the Islamic scholars,[^2] ethics includes all human traits which are brought about either by heredity or environment and which make up one’s personality influencing one’s deeds, conducts thoughts and speech.

Raghib in his Mufradat al-Qur’an says that the two terms " Khalq " (creation) and " Khulq " (human traits) are, in fact, identical; but the former refers to superficial configurations which are observable with naked eyes, whereas the latter refers to the internal powers and innate goodness which are only observable with the hearts.[^3] Regarding this, Imam ‘Ali (as) has said: " Khulq refers to the soul, whereas khalq refers to the body".[^4] As the bodies are different among people; some are beautiful, and some are ugly, the souls are different as well; some are nice, others are inhuman.

In the final analysis, the structure of human body relies on the rules of creation, which are beyond humans to tamper with; whereas sour behaviors and traits are for the most part learned and are formed through hardships.