Chapter X: Evils of Self-Deception
have mentioned above the conditions of the learned men who acquire necessary learning. Now we shall describe about those who remain sa tisf ied with unnecessary branches of learning after giving up necessary learning. Some of them acquire education of administration and worldly laws and regulations which are termed Fight. They are misguided in actions and knowledge.
Regarding their erroneous actions, they are like the patients who learn and teach the prescirptions of medicines. Rather they are like the patient who remains in the mouth of destruction owing to insanity but he learns the medicine of the disease arising out of menstruation and reads it day and night. Similarly the love of the world is strong in the mind of the Faqihs or theologians who are always engaged in the laws of divorce and other laws. Then the devil leads them to erroneous paths. From the point of view of erroneous belief regarding knowledge, he learns only to give Fatwas or legal decisions and things that he has learnt the learning of religion. Hedoes notlearn the Quran and Hadisof the Prophet and does not even want to learn them. He gives up the learning of Ma'arfat with which God and His attributes are recognised and which lead to God fear and piety. True Fiqh increases the fear of God, as God says : Why does not a party from every tribe come out to learn the learning of religion and warn their people when they return to them — 9:112Q.
Another group of learned men learn Ilmul Kalam or learning of arguments. One group are guided and another misguided.
Those who do not guide towards the ways of the Prophet are the misguided ones and those who guide towards the ways of the Prophet have found guidance. But both of them are in some error.
The latter thinks thatarguments are necessary things and the best to acquire nearness of God. They also think that religion does not become perfect until arguments are learnt and that those who have faith without proof are not perfect men. Their whole life is spent in argument. The Prophet said : The nation which is firm on true path are never misguided except for mutual quarrels. One day the Prophet went to his companions and saw that they were quarreling with one another. He was angry at them and said :
Have you got order to set one verse of the Quran against another
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? Look what you have been commanded and act accordingly and refrain from what you have been prohibited.