Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 1 of 2

374 The oath of allegiance to 'Ali, his characteristics & his way of life
strength of religious deterrent and the sense that Allah (&) is always
watching. The one who does not have any modesty does not honour
guests, fulfil promises, render hack trnsts, meet the needs of others,
try to seek the best deeds and give precedence to them, try to avoid
had deeds, cover the private parts of the body that should he covered,
or refrain from immorality. There are many people who, were it not
for this shyness, would not do any of the things that are enjoined on
them; they would not pay any attention to the rights of any created
being, uphold ties of kinship or honour their parents. The motive for
all of these deeds is either religious, in hope of a reward, or a sublime
worldly motive, which is the fear of shame before people. Thus it is
clear that were it not for shyness - either before the Creator or
before people - people would not do them.zzz
The degree of shyness depends on how alive the conscience is.
The more vibrant the conscience, the more complete this sense of
modesty will be. The lack of modesty stems from a deadening of the
heart and Shyness is one of the branches of faith, because it
motivates one to do good deeds and prevents one from committing
sin.zz4 Hence it is a characteristic to which the noble Qur'an pays
great attention.2z5 The Qur'an speaks of shyness with regard to the
Prophet (B) in this verse: (0 you who believe! Enter not the
Prophet's houses, unless permission is given to you for a meal, [and
then] not [so early as] to wait for its preparation. But when you are
invited, enter, and when you have taken your meal, disperse without
sitting for a talk. Verily, such behaviour] annoys the Prophet, and he
is shy of [asking] you [to go]; but Allah is not shy of [telling you] the
truth) (Qur'an 33: 53). We can see how shyness prevented him from
confronting his Companions to ask them to leave. He could not tell
them directly what he wanted them to dozz6 because he was more shy
than the virgin in her se~lnsion.~" The Prophet (g) said: "Shyness
does not bring anything but goodness."zz8
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