Month: May 2011

Bedouins are closer to being good than sedentary people.

 

The reason for it is that the self in its natural state of creation is ready to accept whatever good or evil may arrive and leave an imprint upon it. Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallim, said:

“Every infant is born in the natural state, Fitrah. It is his parents who make him a Jew or a Christian or a Magian.”

To the degree the self is first affected by one of the two qualities, it moves away from the other and finds it difficult to acquire it. When customs proper to goodness have been first to enter the self of a good person and has thus acquired the habit of (goodness, that person) moves away from evil and finds it difficult to do anything evil. The same applies to the evil person when customs (proper to evil) have been first to affect him. Continue reading “From the Muqaddimah of ibn Khaldun – with a note”