Taqwa (purity), Zuhd (piety) and Sympathy (kindness) According To Nahjul Balaghah

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 betweenhikmah (wisdom, philosophy) andmaw'izah (spiritual and moral advice and admonition) lies in this thathikmah is for instruction and imparting knowledge, whilemaw'izah is meant for reminding.Hikmah is struggle against ignorance andmaw'izah is struggle against negligence and indifference.Hikmah deals with the intellect andmaw'izah appeals to the heart.Hikmah educates, whilemaw'izah prepares the intellect for employment of its reserves.Hikmah is a lamp andmaw'izah is an eye-opener.Hikmah is for ratiocination, whilemaw'izah is for self-awakening.Hikmah is the language of the intellect, whilemaw'izah is the message for the spirit. Accordingly, the personality of the speaker plays an essential role inmaw'izah , which is not the case withhikmah . Inhikmah , two minds communicate in an impersonal manner But inmaw'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 ofmaw'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 ofmaw'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.