Aslam

A certain man asked Sahal Tastari : I love to keep you company. He said : When one of us dies, with whom will he keep company ? He said : With God. He said : Then it is better at present to keep company with God. Fuzail said : The more a man is acquainted with the people. The less is his wisdom . Hazrat Abu Abbas said : Your assembly within your house is the best assembly. You will not find anybody there and nobody will find you. These are the sayings of those who love loneliness.

Those who support living in society have got the following proofs. God says : Don't be like those who differed and became separate. God said : Then he united their hearts. These versesspeak of unity on the ground of love and speak of differences regarding the Book of God. The second proof is said to be the saying of the Prophet : A believer loves an object of love and there is no good in one who does not love or got love. In this Had is, condemnation of bad conduct is seen as it is a hindrance to love. There is another Hadis : He who separates from the united body even half a span shifts off the tie of Islam from his neck. He said : He who keeps separate from the united body dies the death of the days of Ignorance. These are weak pro6fs of mixing in society. These speak of allegiance to one Imam or ruler and there is no mention of loneliness therein. The fourth proof cited is that the Prophet prohibited absence of meeting with the brother Muslim for more than three days. This proof is also weak as contemplates previous quarrel . The fifth proof cited is that the Prophet said : Patience of one of you in a dangerous place of Islam is better than his worship of 40 years in a lonely place. This speaks of the time when Islam was in danger. At another time when a certain companion liked a lonely place where there was current of water the Prophet said : Don't do it, because the rank of one of you in the way of God is better than his divine service for sixty years. Don't you love that God should forgive you and you should enter paradise ? Make Jihad in the way of God, as one who fights in the way of God even for a short time, God will admit him in paradise. Another proof is this Hadis. The Prophet said :
The devil in men in like a tiger among a flock of sheep. The tiger

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attacks near and distant ones. Take care of hillocks and keep attached to united body, mosques and ordinary people. This means that loneliness is prohibited before the perfection of learning.

MERITS AND DEMERITS OF SECLUDED LIVING