اَلْأَدَبُ فِي اَلْإِنْسَانِ كَشَجَرَةٍ أَصْلُهَا اَلْعَقْلُ
“Morals in a person are like a tree whose root is intellect.”
[Tasneef-o-Ghurar al-Hikam, p. 247, H. 5098]
Notes:
- The roots of the tree are not visible to us
- What we get to see are only the branches, leaves, flowers, and fruits
- Through the manifestation of these, we come to know how strong the roots are
- Similarly, the intellect of a person is not something that can be seen
- Through the manifestation of morals, one can judge how intellectual a person is
- Also, to strengthen the tree, the roots of the tree are provided with water and sunlight and not the branches, leaves, flowers or fruits
- In the same manner, the stronger the intellect the better will be the morals of a person, and hence, all our efforts must be to strengthen our intellect
- In another tradition, the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.a.) said: “Discuss, meet and narrate traditions to each other. For surely, traditions are the sharpening for the hearts (intellects). Surely hearts (intellects) get rusted just as a sword gets rusted, its sharpening is traditions.”
- [Al-Kaafi, vol. 1, p. 41, H. 8]
- Hence, the root of improving our morals is studying the traditions of the Ahlul Bait (a.s.)
May Allah hasten the reappearance of the Imam of our time, His Eminence Imam al-Mahdi (a.t.f.s.), and grant us the good fortune to learn and remain steadfast to the teachings of Ahlul Bait (a.s.). Aameen O Lord of the worlds!