Aslam

That seclusion is good or bad depends upon the circumstances of each man. It is good for some people and bad for some people. The benefit of loneliness are as follows. The benefits are either worldly or religious. Benefits that are derived from loneliness are engagement in divine service, getting leisure for meditation or religious thoughts and relief form prohibited sins, such as show, back-biting, bad company with sinners, and transgressors. The benefits of this world are that one can do his worldly matters with peaceful mind. So there are six benefits of loneliness.

(1) One can get sufficient leisure for divine service and deep contemplation of God's glory. The greatest ponder over divine matters is over the wonderful creations of God and of His sovereignty and power. In a society, that benefit cannot be availed of. A certain wise man said : It is not possible for anybody to take to loneliness unless he hold firmly the Quran of God.
Those who hold it firmly can enjoy the comforts of material and spiritual worlds. Those who remember God live in God's remembrance and die in God's remembrance and meet with God in God's remembrance. For this reason the Prophet was immerged in deep meditation in the cave of Hira in early stages.
For this reason, though he lived in society, his mind was always concentrated in the thoughts of God. Hazrat Junaid Bagdadi said : For the last 30 years, I am holding secret talks with God but the people think that I am speaking with them. A certain sage was asked : How can you keep patience in loneliness ? He said : I am not alone, God is my companion. When I wish that I should speak with Him secretly, I observe prayer. A certain sage was asked : What benefit have you derived from renunciation of the world ? He replied : God's love. Once Hasan Basari asked a sage :
What things prevent you from mixing in society ? The man said :
No time passes in which I am not in gifts or commit no sin. I remain busy for the gifts to express gratefulness to God and seek forgiveness to Him for the commission of sins. Junnun Misri said

142 The Book of Wordly Usages Vol-II

: The joy and taste of a believer lies in his invocation to his Lord. A certain wise man said : Love for the people is a sign of bankruptcy in religion.

(2) Second benefit: A man can get relief from the sins to be committed by living in a society by adopting loneliness. These sins are of four kinds — (1) to make back-biting and to hear back-biting , (2) to refrain from enjoining good deeds and from prohibiting bad deeds, (3) to work for show of people, 4(1) and to entertain bad conduct and evil deeds. Except the truthful, nobody can be safe from back-biting. (2) Enjoining good deeds and prohibiting evil deeds is the basic principle of religion and compulsory. Once Hazrat Abu Bakr said at the time of Khutba : O people, you need this verse of God : O those who believe, take