The Devils Deception by Imam Ibn AL-Jawzi

T H E D E V I L ' S
D E C E P T I O N S
strain themselves from immorality in the belief that this is
warring against the lower nature, little do they know that accompanying
them and looking at them lustfully is a sin. This
is one the reprehensible practices of the .)ijis.
Early .)ujis were not of this opinion, some however, asserted that
they were, offering as evidence some verses that which had been
recited by Abu 'AlI al-RiithabarI:
"I make my eye wonder in the gardens of pretty things,
But prevent my soul from evil deeds,
And so the burdens of love which I sustain
Would split a mountain solid rock in twain."
We shall presently give the story of Y iisuf lbn al-J:Iusayn and how
he said: 'A hundred times did I vow to my Lord that I would not
keep company with the young, and violated my vow by reason of
straight forms and languishing glance.'
These are people whom lblis found himself incapable of dragging
into immoral conduct, so he won their approval of its commencements,
in consequence of which they eagerly indulged in the
pleasure of gazing (al-naz!J, companionship (al-1ubba) and talking
(al-mupddatha) [to beardless boys], only resolved to resist their lower
nature by keeping it from sin. If they truly claimed to have succeeded
therein, still their hearts, which should have been occupied
with Allah and nothing else, were distracted, and the time wherein
their hearts should have been exclusively engaged on what would
profit them in the Hereafter was spent in struggle (mf!fdhada) with
nature to restrain it from wrongdoing.
All of this is ignorance, and bad manners. Allah has ordered us to
lower the gaze because it is the path to a pure heart (al-qalb) . This is
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