Chapter VII: Duties of Travel
(5) Fifth benefit is the hopes of the people from you and your hopes from the people will vanish in case of secluded living as it is impossible to please all the people. So it is better to remain busy in purifying one's own character and conduct . Imam Shafeyi said: To do benefit to the sinners is the root of every opposition. .
If one does not see the fineries of the world from the beginning, greed does not grow in him. For this reason, God said : Don't prolong our eyes towards what I have provided them of various kinds. The Prophet said : Look to those who are below you in respect of wealth and don't took to those who are superior to you in wealth, Otherwise you will consider the gifts of God on you as insignificant. Hazrat Aaon-b-Abdullah said : I was at first in the company of the rich. I saw their dresses better than my dress, their conveyances better then mine. Then I kept company with the poor and I got then peace of mind.
(6) Sixth benefit: If the idle and the fools take to loneliness, they get security from foolishness and heinous character. To meet with an idle man is like loss of sight. Hazrat A'mash was asked : How have you lost power of sight ? He said : Owing to my seeing the idle, Once Hazrat Abu Hanifa came to A' mash and said : The Prophet said : If God robs the sight of two eyes of a man, He gives him better than them in exchange. What thing has He given you in exchange of the loss of your eye sight ? Hazrat A'mash sold jokingly : God has given me in its exchange the sight of the idle and you belong to that class. The wise Jalianus said :
Everything has got fever. Fever of soul comes at the sight of the idle. Imam Shafeyi said : If I sit by the side of an idle man, the portion of my body which keeps near the idle man casts heaviness on me.
BENEFITS OF SOCIETY
Know, O dear readers, that there are some religious matters which cannot be performed without mixing in society. The benefits which are gained by mixing in society are destroyed by loneliness. The benefits of society are the following —
(1) First benefit By mixing in society, one can teach and learn religious learning which is the best divine service in this world. Education has got greater scope. Some education is
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compulsory and some optional. If loneliness is adopted without learning the compulsory education, it will be committing sin. If you have got ability to be expert in any branch of education, it will be a cause of harm if you adopt lonely living. For this reason. Ibrahim Nakhyi and other sages said : Acquire religious learning at first and then take to lonely habitation. If one remains busy in divine service for the whole day without acquiring sufficient knowledge, his mind and body do not remain free from self-conceit and deceit. So education is the root of religion.