The Perfection of Wisdom -- کمال حکمت

They have, therefore, been perplexed in its bewilderment and sunk in its pleasures. They took it as a god, so it played havoc with them. They, too, played with it and forgot what is beyond it. Amount on demand Darkness disappears gradually. Now it is as though travellers have got down and those who hasten will soon meet. Be informed, O my child, that everyone who is riding on the carriage of night and day is being carried by them even though he may be stationary; he is covering the distance even though he is staying and resting. Know with certainty that you cannot achieve your desire and exceed your destined life. You are on the track of those before you. Therefore, be humble in seeking and moderate in earning because often seeking leads to deprivation. Every seeker of livelihood does not get it [on his own], nor is everyone who is moderate in seeking is deprived. Keep yourself away from every low thing even though it may take you to your desired aims because you will not get any return for your own respect which you exhaust. Do not be the slave of others for Allah had made you free. 

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They have, therefore, been perplexed in its bewilderment and sunk in its pleasures. They took it as a god, so it played havoc with them. They, too, played with it and forgot what is beyond it. Amount on demand Darkness disappears gradually. Now it is as though travellers have got down and those who hasten will soon meet. Be informed, O my child, that everyone who is riding on the carriage of night and day is being carried by them even though he may be stationary; he is covering the distance even though he is staying and resting. Know with certainty that you cannot achieve your desire and exceed your destined life. You are on the track of those before you. Therefore, be humble in seeking and moderate in earning because often seeking leads to deprivation. Every seeker of livelihood does not get it [on his own], nor is everyone who is moderate in seeking is deprived. Keep yourself away from every low thing even though it may take you to your desired aims because you will not get any return for your own respect which you exhaust. Do not be the slave of others for Allah had made you free. There is no goodness in anything “good” achieved through evil, and there is no good in comfort that is achieved through a (disgracing) effort. Beware lest bearers of greed should carry you and make you descend down to the springs of destruction. If you can, manage that there will be no wealthy person between yourself and Allah. Do so because in any case you will find what is for you and get what is your share. A little received directly from Allah the Glorified One is more dignified than that which is more but is received through His creatures, although (really) all is from Allah. Various orders It is easier to rectify what you miss by silence than to secure what you lose by speaking. Whatever is in a pot can be retained by closing the lid. I should prefer you retain what is in your hands rather than seeking what is in the hands of others. The bitterness of disappointment is better than seeking a hand-out from people. Manual labor with chastity is better than the riches of a vicious life. A man is the best guard of his own secrets. Often, a man strives for what harms him. Whoever speaks much speaks nonsense. Whoever ponders perceives. Associate yourself with the people of virtue, you will become one of them. Keep aloof from people of vice, you will remain safe from them. The worst food is that which is unlawful. Oppressing the weak is the worst type of oppression. Where leniency is unsuitable, harshness is lenience.Often, cure is illness and illness is cure. Often, the ill-wisher gives correct advice while the well-wisher cheats. Do not depend upon hopes because hopes are the mainstay of fools. It is wise to safeguard one’s experience. Your best experience is that which teaches you a lesson. Make use of leisure before it changes into grief. Every seeker does not achieve (what he seeks), and everyone who departs never returns. To lose provision and to earn evil for the Day of Judgement means ruin. Every matter has a consequence. What is destined for you will shortly come to you. A trader undertakes a risk. Often a small quantity is more beneficial than a large one. There is no good in an ignoble helper nor in a suspicious friend. Be compliant with theworld as long as it is in your grip. Do not put yourself to risk regarding anything in expectation for more. Beware lest the attitude of enmity should overpower you. Rights of friends Bear yourself towards your brother in such a way that if he disregards kinship, you maintain it when he turns away, be kind to him and draw near to him; when he withholds, spend over him; when he distances himself, approach him; when he is harsh to you, be lenient to him; when he commits a wrong deed, think of an excuse for him as though you were a slave of his. and he is the benevolent master over you Take care that this should not be done inappropriately and that you should not behave thus with an undeserving person. Do not take the enemy of your friend as a friend of yours because you will thus antagonize your friend. Give true advice to your brother, be it sweet or bitter. Swallow your anger because I did not find a sweeter thing than its taste in the end, and nothing is more pleasant than it in the end. Be lenient to him who is harsh to you, for it is likely that he will shortly become lenient to you. Treat your enemy with favors because this is the sweeter of the two successes (thesuccess of revenge and the success of doing a favor). If you intend to cut yourself off from a friend, leave some room for him from your side by which he may resume his friendship if it so occurs to him some day. If anyone has a good idea about you, prove it to be true. Do not disregard the interests of your brother depending upon your terms with him, for he is not your brother if you disregard his interests. Your family should not become the most miserable people on your account. Do not lean towards him who turns away from you. Your brother should not be more firm in his disregard for kinship than you in paying regard to it and you should exceed in doing good to him than his doing evil to you. Do not feel too much the oppression of a person who oppresses you because he is only busy in harming himself and benefitting you. The reward of him who pleases you is not that you should displease him. Be informed, O my child, that livelihood is of two kinds: A livelihood that you seek and a livelihood that seeks you which is such that if you do not reach it, it will reach you. How bad it is to bend down at the time of need and to be harsh while being in riches! You should have from this world only that with which you can adorn your permanent abode. If you cry over what has gone out of your hands, then also cry for what has not at all come to you. Infer about what has not yet happened from what has already happened because occurrences are ever similar. Do not be like those whom preaching does not benefit unless you inflict pain on them because the wise take instruction from teaching while beasts learn only from beating. Ward off from yourself the onslaught of worries by firmness of endurance and purity of belief. Whoever gives up moderation commits excesses. A companion is like a relationship. A friend is one whose absence also proves his friendship. Passion is a partner of distress. Often, the near ones are more remote than the distant ones, and often the distant ones are nearer than the near ones. A stranger is one who has no friends. Whoever transgresses right narrows his own passage. Whoever stays in his status remains constant upon it. The most trustworthy intermediary is that which you adopt between yourself and Allah the Glorified One. Whoever does not care for your interests is your enemy. Deprivation is an achievement. when greed leads to ruin Not every defect can be reviewed and not every opportunity recurs. Often, a person with eyes misses the track while a blind person finds the correct path. Delay an evil deed because you will be able to hasten it whenever you wish. The disregard of kinship of the ignorant is equal to regarding the kinship of the wise. Whoever takes the world to be safe, it will betray him. Whoever regards the world as great, it will humiliate him. Not everyone who shoots hits. When authority changes, the time changes, too. Consult the friend before taking a course, the neighbor before buying the house. Beware lest you should mention in your speech what may cause laughter even though you may be relating it from others. About Women Do not consult women because their view is weak and their determination is unstable. Cover their eyes by keeping them under the veil because strictness of veiling keeps them for long. Their coming out is not worse than your allowing an untrustworthy man to visit them. If you can manage that they should not know anyone other than you, do so. Do not allow a woman matters other than those about herself because a woman is a flower not an administrator. Do not pay her regard beyond herself. Do not encourage her to intercede for others. Do not show suspicion out of place because this leads a woman on the right course to evil and a chaste woman to deflection. For everyone among your servants fix a task for which you may hold him responsible. In this way, they will not fling the task one over the other. Respect your kinsmen because they are your wings with which you fly, the origin towards which you return and the hands with which you attack. Prayer Place your religion and your world at Allah’s disposal and beg Him to ordain the best for you with regard to thenear and the far, this world and the next, "and that is an end to the matter."