Chapter II: Discipline of the Soul
The nature of soul is divided into four kinds: (1) power of discerning knowledge, (2) power of administration or anger, (3)
power of greed and (4) power of adjustment of the above three natures. If knowledge finds full display and becomes mature, truth can be ascertained from falsehood, good from bad. So knowledge is the root of good conduct. God says: Whoever is given wisdom has been given abundant good - 2 : 269. When anger conducts itself under knowledge and Shariat, it can be termed beautiful. When greed becomes subject to wisdom and shame, it can be termed beautiful. Power of adjustment of the natures or judgment is beautiful when anger and greed are guided by wisdom and Shariat. The beauty of anger is called bravery and the beauty of greed is called patience. If anger exceeds the limit of moderation, it is called cowardice. If greed exceeds moderation, it is called hope against hope; and if it goes down, it is. called sluggishness. Moderation of greed is good and the two extremes of greed are bad. If wisdom is used immoderately, it is called deception. If it reaches to the extreme, it is called genius. The middle course is called wisdom.
So there are four basic qualities of good conduct knowledge, bravery, patience and power of adjustment or judgment. Other qualities are their branches. Nobody was blessed with all these
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qualities except the Prophets. There are differences in those qualities in the persons other than the Prophets, he who is devoid ■- of these qualities is near the accursed evil. The Prophet was sent to complete good conduct and good manners. The Quran praised the believers for possessing these qualities: The believers are those who have got faith in God, His Prophet and then do not entertain any doubt and fight with their lives and properties in the way of God. These are they who are truthful. God described the companions of the Prophet in this verse: They are hard upon the unbelievers but sympathetic to one another - 48 : 28.
CHANGE OF NATURE: It has been argued that nature cannot be changed and this mistaken belief arises out of two reasons.
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(1 ) The first reason is that just as figure of a man or his colour